In My Life
by Em Kay Who
Summary: Dr. John Noble: Widower, single father, and a bit of a wreck. Rose Tyler: Shop girl, only child, and a bit of a mess. How will their lives change when they meet?
1. Prologue: First Meetings

**A/N: Hello all! I have no idea what made me want to start this story now. I'm actually in the middle of working on three other stories. *Sighs* So, this is my first AU and it's one I've wanted to write for a long time now. I really hope you guys like it :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That goes to the BBC. *A few lines in this story may be borrowed from certain episodes of Doctor Who. Credit for those lines belong to their respective writers.***

* * *

To say Rose Tyler was exhausted was an understatement. In fact, she couldn't remember a time when she had ever been more tired. Working double shifts every day will do that to a girl though. She (for the hundredth time that day) cursed Jimmy Stone for leaving her in the position he did. Bloody bastard. She really needed to find a second job. Something that paid her better than Henricks Department Store would be nice. Although how she was supposed to find anything decent with no A-levels to her name... Ugh. Why did she have to be so stupid? Why couldn't she have just stayed in school? No. One bat of that damn rocker's eyelashes and she was done for. Mickey warned her. Her mother warned her. But did she listen? Nope! Now here she was, nineteen years old and still drowning in debt and living with her mum on a counsel estate.

Rose breathed a sigh of relief when she was finally able to clock out for the night, although grimaced when she realised she had already missed the bus and would have to walk home. That or pay for a cab, which, financially, was not an option at the moment.

Walking out the double doors of the department store, Rose was shocked to find herself in the middle of a mob scene. _What the hell!? _she thought to herself. She shivered when she noticed that everyone around her was dressed up like the plastic mannequins Henricks used to display the new arrivals. She was pretty confused as to what the purpose of that would be until it dawned on her. Protesters. She saw the signs they were raising in the air telling the fine folks of London not give any store that used plastic mannequins for display, their business.

"Excuse me," Rose said politely, just trying to get past the group. "Seriously, I just want to get by."

No one was moving. If anything, they were surrounding her more and pushing her towards the wall of the building. One of the dressed up protesters ripped Rose's name badge off her shirt.

"Oi! Do you mind?" she shouted at them and began to reach for her mobile. "If this is some sort of sick joke, it's not funny! I'm going to call the police!"

Suddenly there was a hand in her's. A man, not dressed like the others, appeared next to her. "Run," he said.

And she did.

* * *

Dr. John Noble liked to walk around London at night. Especially after a rough shift at the hospital. He looked up at the night sky, wistfully wishing he could see the stars better. Perhaps it was time to take a trip somewhere. Somewhere where the stars shone brightly. It might be nice to travel again. He hadn't actually gone anywhere since... Well, it's been a long time. Donna thought he was barmy for strolling around at night, calling him "spaceman" when he told her it was because he liked to look at the night sky. "God, you sound just like Gramps," she would tell him lovingly. "Seriously though," she would continue. "You need sleep."

He didn't really though. He had always been somewhat of an insomniac and got used to running on little sleep. It had been that way ever since his days at the Academy. And it wasn't like he had anyone to get home to. Not anymore. So why shouldn't he be allowed to take walks whenever he wanted? These were the thoughts running through John's head when he turned the corner and saw a group of protesters surround a young woman.

"Oi! Do you mind?" he heard her yell.

Never one to be able to walk away from a damsel in distress, John pushed his way through the group and found her hand as she threatened to call the police on the group around her. He squeezed her hand gently and gave her one command.

"Run."

And she did.

* * *

Rose wasn't sure why she was still following this man, but she couldn't help it. He was a total stranger and could be a complete psychopath for all she knew, but, for some reason, she completely trusted him.

Finally he slowed their jog to a halt and let her catch her breath. "You alright?" he asked kindly.

"Yeah. Fine," she answered. "Thanks for that."

"No problem. Do you know what that was all about?"

She shrugged. "Not really. Must be a student project or something."

He crossed his arms and observed her. "What makes you think that?"

"Cause to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they got to be students," Rose rationalised.

"That makes sense. Well done!" He grinned.

Rose beamed under his praise. For some reason his approval meant the world. She took a moment to look at her savior. Tall with short, brownish hair and he was wearing a dark leather jacket over some hospital scrubs.

"Well then," he said, breaking her observation. "It's pretty late. You should be heading home." He turned from her and whistled for a cab. Amazingly, one pulled up immediately. Knowing she had nothing on her to pay the driver, Rose turned and began walking away. "Where are you going?" he called out.

"Walking home," she told him shyly.

"Will that involve you having to walk past the lot back there again?"

"Probably. But I'll just slip around the building. Doubt they'll even notice me."

"Oh no," he told her. Come on. You're taking the cab."

She blushed in embarrassment. "I can't. I don't have anything on me to pay."

He gave her a small grin. "It's already taken care of."

Rose walked back towards him. "And what about you? We gonna share?"

"Nah! We're just a few minutes from my place. I'm going to walk. You just tell the driver where to take you and he'll take care of everything." With that John began to walk away.

"Wait!" she cried out before he could get too far. "I never asked... Who are you?"

He lowered his head for a moment and took a deep breath. He looked back up at her and answered, "I'm a doctor. That's all you need to know."

She frowned. That had not been the answer she expected. "That's all your gonna tell me?"

He nodded and then asked, "What's your name?"

"Rose."

"Nice to meet you, Rose."

* * *

John smiled as the girl spilled her theory about the protesters being students. Oh, she showed promise. If he was younger, he would have definitely found himself smitten with this girl. He probably would have even asked for her number and then somehow convinced her to be his assistant when travelling. But he didn't do that anymore. He couldn't.

He saw her embarrassment as she admitted that she couldn't pay for the cab, and felt his heart break a little.

He felt his a flutter in his chest when she asked if they were going to share. And, oh, he wanted to. But, for that reason alone, he knew he couldn't.

"Wait!" he heard he call out. "I never asked... Who are you?"

He wanted to tell her. He wanted to say Dr. John Noble Smith. He wanted to tell her that he worked at Royal Hope Hospital and to come and see him sometime. But that would be wrong. She was so young and so full of life. And he felt so old and broken. So he gave her a simple answer.

"I'm a doctor. That's all you need to know."

"That's all your gonna tell me?"

John nodded and then asked, "What's your name?"

"Rose," she answered sweetly.

"Nice to meet you, Rose."

* * *

_**Coming Soon: Five years later.**_

**Reviews? xoxo**


	2. Five Years Later

**A/N: This is the second time I'm updating a story today. Be proud ;) I have to apologise for the wait. Life has been madness and I've been trying to wrap up The Old Team's Voyage! Thank you so much to everyone who is following this story, those of you who have already favorited, and everyone who has taken the time to review. I adore you all. I hope you like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That all goes to the BBC.**

* * *

**_Five years later..._**

"Hi, Miss Rose!"

Rose Tyler laughed as a petite blonde girl came barreling into UNIT Gymnastics Club. This was only the young girl's fourth practice, but already she was transforming from the shy three and a half year old who first walked in almost two weeks ago, to an outgoing kid.

"Hey there, Jenny! Why don't you go put your bag down then get out on the mat with others. We're just waiting for Alba and Justine to arrive."

"Okay. Bye, Aunt Donna! See you in an hour!" Jenny called out to the older red headed woman who had followed her into the gym.

Donna chuckled and shook her head. "Bye, sweetpea." She turned her attention to the blonde behind the front desk. "I swear, Rose, you are a miracle worker."

Rose blushed. "What do ya mean?"

"Look at her!" She nodded to Jenny, who was sitting next to a little girl who had light red hair, chatting away. "She's a completely different kid. Seriously. She's making friends, Rose! You have no idea what a big deal that is for her. She's so flippin' smart for her age, she's never been able to relate to other kids. But one hour here with you and suddenly she's chatty Kathy with the other girls. It's unbelievable."

Rose thought back to Jenny's first day. It was true, she was shy and reluctant to leave her Aunt Donna's side. She only knew of one other kid at the gym, a little girl named Melody Williams. Apparently their fathers worked together at Royal Hope Hospital. Melody was a little over a year older than Jenny, but that fit the young blonde just fine. It seemed that Jenny Noble was quite the mature three year old and that made it extremely difficult for her to make friends. Once, Rose had coaxed Jenny into leaving Donna's side she paired the two girls together and the rest was history.

"Jenny's probably the smartest kid out there," Rose told Donna, gesturing to the open mat that the girls were warming up on. "She just needed to find some common ground with the other kids. Besides," she added, "Jenny has great potential to be an excellent gymnast. If she sticks with it, I could definitely see her going far."

"Well, whether she sticks with it or not will be up to her father," Donna stated with an eye roll.

"Does he not want Jenny doing this?"

"I didn't ask him. He's been away for the past two weeks and while he's been gone, Jenny's been my responsibility." She sighed and shook her head. "My brother's just overprotective. He's a single father and has lost a lot in his life and although he doesn't admit it, I know that he's terrified of losing Jenny as well. He knows how smart she is. She get's it from him after all. John's a genius and has no problem admitting it. Because of that, he also knows how mean other kids can be."

"And he doesn't want to see Jenny get hurt," Rose added on with understanding. She had been raised by a single parent and knew how protective her own mother could be.

"Exactly."

"I really hope he lets Jenny continue on with us! We would miss her terribly if she had to go and I know the other kids in her group would feel the same."

"No worries. I have a plan!" A smile bloomed on Donna's face. "He arrives home today from his trip and I plan on having him picking Jenny up from her practice. That way he can see what a great time she's having and how much she's been brought out of her shell."

Rose looked uneasy. Her boss, Kate, was out today and the last thing she needed was to have some angry father bursting into UNIT. "Are you sure that's the best idea, Donna? Maybe you should wait here for him."

"Nah! He'll be fine. Even if he's angry, the second Jenny smiles at him it will all melt away. Trust me. And besides, I have a date tonight!"

"Oooo! Who's the lucky man?"

"Never actually met him. A friend is setting us up, but I know his name is Shawn."

Just then, two little girls ran into the gym. "Hi, Justine. Hi Alba," Rose greeted. "Go ahead and set your stuff down and head out to the mats. The others are already out there warming up." The girls did as they were told and Rose turned her attention back to Donna. "Well, that's everybody. I hope you have a really great date. Hopefully Jenny's dad lets her come back so I can hear all about it next week."

"Tell you what, I'll stop by either way. Perhaps we can grab a coffee one evening?"

Rose grinned at her new friend. "I'd like that."

* * *

Dr. John Noble sighed as he finally exited the airport and made his way into a cab that was already waiting for him. Giving the driver his address, he flipped open his mobile to check his messages. One new message. _Probably Donna_, he thought to himself. And he was right. His face betrayed no surprise when his sister's voice rang out through his phone.

_"Hello, twin! Hope you had a grand old time saving the world while I stayed home and cared for your offspring. No worries on that front. Jenny has been well cared for and I'm sure you will find her in the exact same condition you left her in. Minus the tattoo and the navel piercing."_

John's eyes grew wide.

_"I'm kidding you, Dumbo. Gawd, I can just see you now. Bet that gave you a right freak out. Anyways, Jenny and I won't be home when you get there. Now don't be upset, but while you were away I enrolled Jenny at UNIT Gymnastics Club. Please don't be mad. She's loving it there, John. And she's actually made friends. Honest to god friends. I want you to see how happy she is, so I'll need you to pick her up from today's practice."_

John quickly grabbed a pad of paper out of his pocket and jotted down the address Donna rattled off. He continued to listen and wrote down the days and times of her practices.

_"Be nice when you get there. Her coach is the sweetest thing and has been an absolute gem with your daughter. Oh, and her practice ends at five. Not five-thirty. Not six. Five o'clock."_

He scoffed. She acted like he was never on time...

_"Now then, shoot me a text to let me know your plane landed alright, but otherwise, don't bother calling me! I'm getting ready for a date. Love ya, Spaceman. Glad to have you home."_

John sighed as he hit the end button on his mobile. Leave it to Donna to wait until he was out of the country to go completely behind his back and put Jenny in a gymnastics club. Didn't she realise what a horrible idea it was? She said Jenny had made friends. Sure she did. His daughter is brilliant. But, that's the point. Just wait until she says something completely beyond the level of the other kids her age and she would be shunned like a leper. He had seen it before. Had experienced it himself. And that was pain he never wanted his little girl to feel. Now he got to be the bad guy and break Jenny's heart. Just great. He pulled out his mobile once more to text his sister.

**Home safe and sound. Got your message.**

**I am not happy, Donna. You had no right to go behind my back.**

**I'll pick Jenny up today, but I have NO intention of letting my daughter go back there.**

He hit the SEND button harder than necessary and then felt guilty. Quickly he sent another text.

**Oh, and I love you too, Earthgirl...**

**...But I'm still not happy.**

* * *

John quickly paid the driver and pulled himself and his small carry-on bag out of the cab as soon as he arrived back to his house. It really was nice to be home and he wished the Jenny had been there to greet him. This was the longest he had ever been away from his little girl. Normally, he would have taken her with him on his trip, Donna too, but this time it had been to dangerous. The virus he was studying was highly contagious amongst children Jenny's age, and John refused to take any chances where his daughter was concerned.

Once inside he checked the time. 4:40, according to his pocket watch. That left him with twenty minutes to spare before he would need to pick Jenny up. Plenty of time for him to shower... Right?

* * *

John raced into UNIT Gymnastics Club at 5:15, silently cursing himself the entire time. He would have been on time, honestly, but it had been two weeks since he had had a proper shower, and a hot one at that! And then he decided to grab a quick snack from the kitchen, only to find that there were no bananas left! Honestly. His own sister left his kitchen without any bananas. Had she even met him? So obviously, with those distractions he ended up being slightly late. He sighed with relief when he realised that Jenny was not the last child to be picked up. In fact, there were several parents crowded together, chatting, while their children tumbled about the open area.

"Hello, Dr. Noble," a man's voice greeted from his left.

He turned to find one of the nurses from the hospital. "Oh, hello there, Rory! And how many times do I have to tell you, outside of the hospital you can call me John."

Rory ducked his head. "Right. Sorry, John."

"So what brings you here?"

"My Melody takes classes. She's been getting along thick as thieves with your Jenny."

John gave a small grin. "Really? That's nice. I thought their practice ended at five?"

"Oh, it does. But their coach lets them have free tumble time for an extra thirty minutes after if they want to participate." John nodded, but didn't respond. Rory asked, "How was Ethiopia? I had it was pretty rough where you were."

"It was indeed. The trip wasn't terrible. I was able to cobble together a small vaccine which should hopefully help until some sort of cure can be found. You should come with us next time, Rory. You would be great out there."

"That sounds amazing, but I don't Amy would like me being gone for so long."

"Bring the family along too. As long as the situation's not too dangerous I usually bring Jenny and my sister. This case was the exception."

Rory smiled. "I'll think about it. Maybe when Anthony's a bit older."

Just then John heard the familiar sound of his daughter's voice.

"Daddy!" she cried as she ran across the gym and bolted into her father's arms. He held her close as he ran his hand through her think blonde hair that had been pulled up in an elastic band. "Oh, daddy, I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, poppet," he whispered in her ear.

"Do you like my new lepordtard?" she asked as she pulled back to model her attire.

"Leotard," he corrected with a grin. Sometimes his daughter got so excited and spoke so fast that she messed up her words. "And it's very nice."

"Auntie Donna got it for me and guess what!? It matches the one my new best friend Melody has! Remember her, daddy? You work with her daddy at the hospital."

"I remember."

"I'm so glad you're here! I have lots of things I want to show you! Want to see me tumble, daddy? You have to see me! My couch says I'm a natural."

"I think you mean your coach," he told her kindly.

She placed her hands on her hips. "That's what I said! Now come watch me. Please!"

John felt his hearts clench. She was so happy, but it could never last. Perhaps he would wait until they got home and resettled. Besides, it was only Thursday and according to Donna her next practice wasn't until next Tuesday. That gave him the whole weekend to break the news to her. "Sure, poppet. I would love to see you tumble."

"Oh! And you have to meet my coach," she said, placing emphasis on the last word. "She's the nicest, bestest lady ever. Besides Aunt Donna, of course."

He laughed. "Of course."

"Here she is!" Jenny said happily as a pretty blonde woman walked up to the father and daughter. "Miss Rose, this is my dad. Daddy, this is Miss Rose!"

John looked at the woman in front of him with shock and surprise. He would recognise her anywhere. "You!" he stated simply.

* * *

_**Coming Soon: You again...**_

_**Please Review! xoxo**_


	3. You Again

**A/N: I'm terribly sorry about the wait! I had planned to have this up a few days earlier, but trying to edit while your ill is not the best plan. Many thanks though to my followers, those of you who have already favortied this, and everyone who has left such lovely reviews. I adore you all.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That all belongs to the BBC.**

* * *

_John looked at the woman in front of him with shock and surprise. He would recognise her anywhere. "You!" he stated simply._

* * *

Rose thought about that night many times over the past five years. Thought about the handsome doctor who rescued her. She always regretted never pushing for a name or a way to contact him. He had seemed so sad and the loneliness she saw in his eyes haunted her for months afterwards. She kept her own eyes peeled for him, of course. Hoping secretly that she had made some sort of impression on the strange physician and that he might seek her out. He knew her first name and where she worked, it wouldn't be too hard to find her. But he never came. Eventually she stopped looking. It had been five years and the last place she expected to find him was at the gymnastics club picking up his daughter.

"Oh my god. It's you!" she exclaimed back to him as she took in his appearance. His hair was longer than it had been, but it suited him better than short. He wasn't wearing hospital scrubs this time, which made sense since she remembered Donna telling her that he had just arrived back from a business trip. Also gone was the heavy leather jacket he had been wearing that night. Now he was wearing a brown pinstripe suit with white trainers. This new look suited him. He seemed much happier now than he had that night.

* * *

John stared in shock. He could hardly believe his eyes. The thought of Rose had haunted him for five years. He had wanted to badly to go back to that shop the next day and find her and it took every once of his self control not to. She was so young and seemed so innocent and he was a broken old man. He couldn't mess up her life. So instead he avoided Henricks. Never even walked past it if possible. Because one glimpse of her and he probably would have ran to her side and insisted that she leave her boring beans on toast life behind and come travel with him. But he couldn't do that. He would travel again. But alone this time. Of course, that was before Jenny had come along. And, suddenly, he realised that he couldn't be alone even if he wanted to.

He took in her appearance. She was still so young, but had definitely matured. Her hair was still blonde as well, but it was a bit more natural looking as it rested right at her shoulders. Her figure was... He physically shook his head. Now was _not_ the time to be having such thoughts! She seemed tired though. And not physically tired like she had been five years ago. This was a bit more emotional than that. There was a deep part of him that wanted so badly to take her home and feed her tea, make her sleep until she was completely well rested. And... blimey he was getting soft in his old age.

His daughter's voice broke through his thoughts and brought him back to the present. "Daddy, you know Miss Rose?"

John took a deep breath. "Well, I don't really know her per say, but-"

"Your daddy saved my life," Rose bent down and told the young girl with a cheeky grin.

"No way!" Jenny cried in disbelief.

Rose winked. "Yes way."

"I didn't exactly save your life," he mumbled with a blush. "More like saved you from having to read the poorly drafted flyers those nutters were handing out."

She stood and furrowed her brow. "You didn't hear? That night, right after we left, there was an explosion. Nothing too serious, but still. The protesters had these little bombs, supposed to just give off a few sparks, but one of the protestors set them off too early and all at the same time. If I had still been there I could have been seriously injured."

Jenny gripped his leg. "Daddy, you're a heron!"

"Hero," he corrected. "And I'm really not, poppet. Now we best get going. Say goodbye to Miss Rose."

"Wait! You haven't seen me tumble yet."

John watched with a smile as his daughter rolled across the floor a few times. "Brilliant, love," he complimented with a kiss to her cheek. "Now go on and get your bag."

* * *

"It's nice to see you again," Rose said quietly as Jenny made her way over to Melody to say goodbye.

He nodded his head. "And you." He reached his hand out to shake her's. "Doctor John Noble. Nice to officially meet you."

She giggled. "Rose Tyler. Pleasure to finally know your name."

He looked away embarrassedly. "Ah. Not my finest moment. I was having a bit of a rough night that evening."

"No worries. It added to the mystery." She stayed silent as she watched him watch his daughter. "She's really fantastic, you know."

He smiled. "Oh, I know."

Rose cleared her throat. "Uh... Donna mentioned... Donna mentioned that you might not want to bring Jenny back here. And before you say anything," she added with a rush when she saw him open his mouth, "just know that I have Jenny's utmost best interest at heart. She is so lovely and she's really made quite the best friend with Melody Williams. Thick as thieves, those two. And if there was anything going on that would cause even the smallest amount of concern, I would let you know immediately. Jenny has really blossomed here and I would just hate to loose her."

"I believe you," John told her after a few moments of silence. "But I'll still have to think about it. I don't exaggerate when I say that my daughter is brilliant. She really is. She doesn't always think or speak or act like a child her age normally does. And it's my job to protect her from people who might cause her any pain because they don't understand her. It's nothing against you, Miss Tyler."

"Rose."

"Sorry?"

"You can call me Rose. Not even the kids call me Miss Tyler."

"Right then, Rose."

At that moment, Jenny came running back. "Ready!" She turned to her coach. "Bye, Miss Rose! I'll see you next week."

"Bye, sweetheart!" Rose replied, refraining from adding a "see you then!"

She got a small nod from John right before they left.

* * *

Later that night, John sat in bed and watched the rise and fall of his daughter's chest. She was so calm when she slept. Seeing her so peaceful always grounded him. Centered him. The ringing of his mobile broke through his meditations.

"What?" he answered when he saw who was calling.

"Oi! Don't take that tone with me, mister," his sister snapped back at him.

"Donna, why are you calling me? It's just past ten. Shouldn't you still be on your date?"

"I'm home now."

"Already?"

"Oh, please don't sound so surprised and make me sound pathetic."

John sighed. He was not in the mood to have a petty argument. "What do you need, Donna?"

"Blimey, you are in a mood," she mumbled. "I was just wondering how picking up Jenny from the gym went."

"It went fine."

"That's all your gonna say? Well, are you at least going to let he continue on?"

"I don't know yet. I told her coach I would consider it."

"John-"

"Please, Donna, can you just let this go. I really don't want to talk about the horrible position you've put me in."

"The position I've put you in?" she shrieked. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that while I was away, you got to be fun Aunt Donna and let Jenny do gymnastics and now I have to be her mean father who tells her she can't!" he whispered harshly.

"Well, you don't have to be! And why are you whispering?"

"Jenny's sleeping in my bed." John sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "She refused to sleep in her own. I shouldn't have left her for so long."

"You had no choice, John," Donna told him kindly. "The other doctors needed you on that trip. Those victims needed you. And we all agreed, it was too dangerous for Jenny to join you."

"I just hate leaving her behind."

"She was fine, John. I swear! A few tears here and there, but do you know what really helped?"

He rolled his eyes. "You're going to tell me gymnastics, aren't you?"

Donna laughed. "Twin telepathy at work once again."

"Goodnight, twin."

"Please consider it."

"Goodnight, Donna."

"You won't regret it!"

"I'm seriously hanging up now."

"Goodnight, Spaceman. I love you."

* * *

Rose couldn't stop thinking about Doctor John Noble. Blimey, it was nice to have a name to the face. And what a face...

"What in the world are you thinking about with that silly smile on your face?" Rose's weekend boss, Sally, asked her.

"Nothing," Rose answered quickly as she went back to rearranging a shelf of old books.

"Liar!" Sally teased. "I haven't seen you so lost in your thoughts since... since I don't know when!"

Rose smiled. She had met Sally Sparrow three years ago when looking to pick up another job. A friend of her's had told her that they had seen a "help wanted" sign outside an old antique shop and Rose instantly fell in love with the place. And the fact that they only needed her to work weekends was an added bonus.

The Sparrow and Nightingale specialised in old antiquated books, however it also carried a wide range of other treasures and antiques. The shop was owned by two women, Sally Sparrow and Kathy Nightingale, however the latter had just gotten married when Rose was hired on ,and the shop was now being ran by Kathy's brother Larry, along side Sally.

"So, have you heard from Kathy lately? How's Hull? Larry told me that he's planning on visiting her soon."

"Kathy's fine. Talked to her yesterday and she told me that they finally felt the baby kick. But don't try to change the subject!"

"Oh, that's nice. Make sure you tell her I said hello, next time you speak with her."

"Did you meet someone? Is that it? You've met a bloke?" Sally asked bluntly.

Rose blushed. "I haven't met a bloke!"

"So what's got your head in the clouds then? Hmmm?"

"Nothing really... I just... Alright, so a while back I sort of met this man-"

"I knew there was a bloke!"

Rose rolled her eyes and continued filling Sally in on how she first met John Noble and then his sudden reappearance in her life.

"So is he married then? If he has a kid?" her boss questioned when the story was over.

"I don't think so. I can't recall seeing a ring on his finger and it was always his sister who brought Jenny and picked her up. Never once mentioned anything about a mother."

Sally quirked her eyebrow. "Interesting..."

"Stop it!"

"Stop what? This guy sounds really good looking. Why not put yourself out there?"

"Because he's a doctor and I'm-"

"Utterly gorgeous. Stop selling yourself short."

"Sally, seriously. He showed no interest in me whatsoever."

"I somehow doubt that. He remembered you, Rose. It was five years ago and he was with you for what? All of five minutes? And he remembered you!"

Rose sighed. She wanted to believe what her boss was saying, but she just couldn't. "Yeah? Well, there's a good chance I won't be seeing him again. He wasn't sure whether or not he would let his daughter continue on."

Sally smirked. "Trust me. You'll see him again."

* * *

The days had dragged, but it was finally Tuesday. Rose bit lip anxiously as she watched the front door to UNIT Gymnastic Club, waiting for the final child (and said child's father) in her class to arrive. There were two minutes left.

"Rose, if all the kids are here, go ahead and start a couple minutes early," the owner of UNIT, Kate, told her.

"I still have one more that I'm waiting for," Rose told her with a nervous smile.

"Which one?"

"Jenny Noble."

"One of our newest gymnasts." Kate grinned. She prided herself on knowing all of the children who came through the doors of her gym. "It's unlike Jenny to be late. If I remember correctly, her aunt always brought her on time."

"That was before Jenny's father arrived back from his business trip. Perhaps he's just running a bit behind."

"Perhaps, but even so, it's not time for your class to start, Rose. I'm afraid you'll have to start without her."

Rose sighed and let her shoulders droop. Apparently she wouldn't being seeing John or Jenny again. Hopefully Donna would at least stop in sometime. "Yeah, alright."

Just as she started to walk away, she heard the door behind her open. "I'm here, Miss Rose! I'm here!"

Rose knelt down and scooped Jenny into a hug. "I'm so glad to see you! Thought you might not be coming." She looked up, expecting to see Jenny's father, but instead saw another man standing with the little girl.

* * *

_**Coming Soon: Talks and Chips**_

**Please Review! xoxo**


	4. Talks and Chips

**A/N: Many thanks to my followers, those who have favorited, and those who have reviewed! I love you all. Hope you like this chapter :) I rushed while editing, so I apologise for any huge mistakes!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That goes to the BBC.**

* * *

"Oh. Uh. Hello." Rose stood up and faced the man. He was handsome. Very... debonair. Yes, that's the word! Debonair. He was wearing a light blue button up shirt with black trousers being held up behind suspenders. Rose had never thought that particular accessory as something she found attractive, but she's starting to rethink that now.

The man gave a charming smile and held out his hand. "Captain Jack Harkness," he introduced in an American accent.

Rose blushed. All the guy did was say his name and she was blushing! _How embarrassing._

"Stop it..." Jenny said with a groan.

"I was only saying hello!"

"Daddy said not to let you."

Rose gave a small giggle. "I'm Rose."

"Of course you are," he replied. "I've heard a lot about you."

"All good things I hope."

Jack's only response was a wink.

Bloody hell. How did he do that? Suddenly she felt like she was fourteen and the really hot bloke who worked at the local was flirting with her. Rose smoothed her hair back. "Well, it's time to start practice. We're a few minutes behind now."

"Sorry about that. Completely my fault!" He looked at her sheepishly. "John was needed at the hospital and I had the afternoon off so I had Jenny with me. I took her to the park and we sort of lost track of time."

"Not a problem. Jenny, why don't you go and start warming up with the others."

"Alright. Bye, Uncle Jack!"

He lifted the girl briefly to kiss her forehead. "Bye, sweetpea. I'll see you when practice is over."

"So you'll be picking her up then?" Rose asked once Jenny had run over to the mats.

"Yeah. Her dad's not sure what time he'll be home, so I'm keeping her till he does."

"That's nice of you. Is Donna busy too then?"

"Nah. I think she just needed a bit of a break from Jenny duty. She had her the entire time John was away. And while she loves the girl to pieces, she can be exhausting!"

Rose laughed. "I could see that!"

"Rose!" her boss's voice called out. "Do you want to tell me why your standing here chatting while your class should have started five minutes ago?"

"Sorry, Kate! Jenny Noble finally arrived and I-"

Jack cut in, "Was just be a good coach and making sure that I would be here on time to pick Jenny up."

Kate smiled politely and held out her hand. "Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. And you are?"

"Captain Jack Harkness. I knew your father, ma'am. We worked together once. He was a class act guy. I was sorry to hear about his passing."

"My father hardly ever spoke of work related matters with the family, but I'm sure he felt the same of you, Captain. Now if you don't mind Rose really needs to get her class started."

"Of course. " He gave a small bow. "Ladies."

"Wow," Rose said with a sigh as he exited the building.

"My thoughts exactly," Kate replied with a knowing smirk.

* * *

As Rose finished cleaning up the gym at the end of classes, her thoughts began to drift to John Noble (as they had since she saw him again). While Captain Jack had been extremely charming and lovely to speak with, she found herself rather disappointed that she hadn't got to see the little girl's father again. There was just something about him. Something she wanted to know more of. Her thoughts were interrupted when a woman walked into the building.

"Oh, good! You're still here!"

"Donna!" Rose walked over and greeted the ginger with a warm hug. "It's so good to see you!"

"Same here. I was wondering if you still wanted to go have a coffee and chat for a bit...?"

"I'd love too. Let me just tell my boss I'm leaving."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the two women were sitting across from each other in a cozy little cafe a few doors down from UNIT. "So," Rose started with a sly grin, "tell me about your date."

Donna's shoulders slumped a bit. "He was great. He really, really was."

"But..."

"But, I don't know! Shawn was really sweet. A bit shy, but that's alright. We had a very nice evening. There was just no spark. Something felt like it was missing."

"Like what?"

"I want," she stopped and took a sip from her takeaway cup, "I want someone to challenge me. Someone who makes me excited about sharing a life with them. And I know it's only been one date and it's too soon to say stuff like that."

Rose shook her head. "No it's not! If you know, you know."

"It's just, maybe I'm being too picky. It's not like I'm getting any younger. I've already had two failed serious relationships. Maybe I'm not meant to be in one."

"Don't say that."

"I was engaged once."

"Really? What happened?" Rose asked curiously.

"Left me for another woman."

She winced. She knew what that felt like. "Ouch. I'm really sorry, Donna."

Donna barked out a short laugh. "Oh, it gets worse. He left me for another woman... In the middle of our wedding ceremony!"

"What!?"

"There I was, half way up the aisle, and he stops the procession. Starts babbling about how he couldn't go through with it and he was leaving me for some Lady Racnoss something or other."

"Oh my god, Donna. That's horrible."

"I know."

"What'd you do?"

"Cried. A lot. Then John took me on a holiday to Egypt. Well, holiday for me, work reasons had him there, but still, it helped. Then a couple of years ago, I met Lee."

Rose smiled at the wistfulness in Donna's voice. "Where did you meet him?"

"I was temping as a receptionist in a speech therapist's office. He was a patient. He had an awful stutter," the ginger woman told her. "Poor bloke."

"How long were you two together?"

"Six months. But it felt like years."

Seeing how sad Donna was becoming, Rose asked gently, "What happened?"

"He was prefect. He was sweet and kind and caring. I could see exactly how my life with him would go. We would get married, have kids, and live a lovely little domestic life." She stopped to blink back tears. "All he ever wanted to do was please me. Whatever I wanted he made sure I had and that truly made him happy. And I know what your thinking... That's every girl's dream! But we never fought. Not once! He was always so complacent."

Rose echoed her friend's earlier words, "There was no spark. No challenge."

Donna sighed. "None. So I broke it off. He was devastated. Last I'd heard, he'd moved out of the country. Not even sure where. John and my gramps were the only two people who supported my decision. My parents thought I was being foolish for letting him go. And my friends thought I was just being spoiled because he didn't make that much at his job."

"Donna, you are brilliant. And I know that the right guy is out there waiting for you."

That cracked a smile. "That's what John always says. Goes on and on about how important I am, blah blah blah. I think he's just trying to make me feel better since he's the genius twin and I barely made it through uni."

"So you two are twins?"

"Yep! But, I'm seven minutes older. Do you have any siblings?"

Rose shook her head sadly. "No. My mum always said that she and my dad had wanted at least one more, but he died when I was still a baby."

"I'm so sorry. Your mum never remarried?"

"Never did. She dated quite a bit, but never found that special someone again."

"Must have been pretty rough on her. Did she have much help in raising you?"

She shook her head. "We have a bit of family here and there, but none that we're that close too. We made do though, my mum and I."

"I can't imagine how tough that must have been on her. I'm so glad John has the support he does."

"Donna, can I ask you something?" Rose asked bravely. "You never mention Jenny's mum. What happened to her?"

"That's a bit... complicated. My brother doesn't like to talk about his past much, so I'll just say this. He was married once, but his wife died. Things were horrible for him after that. Then one night, he came home and he had this brand new attitude. He started travelling again. Which was something he did often before the loss of his wife. He then... saw someone... briefly, but they broke things off before anything got serious. Short time after that, he found out that his brief little relationship resulted in Jenny. Her mum didn't want her. Planned on giving her up for adoption, but wanted to give John the option of knowing about her first. He ended up keeping her and that was that."

Rose felt a her heart sink. Jenny's mother had just given her up? "How could she..."

"How could she not want her?" Donna finished for her. "Never got a straight answer."

"That's so awful."

"Mmm. It was hard at first. Having a kid was not something my brother planned on. Well, not after his wife," she cleared her throat, "well, you know. But once he held her for the first time, he was absolutely smitten. She was so tiny, I knew he was a goner. There was no way he could not keep her."

"He seems like a wonderful father," Rose provided.

"Oh, he is. Two peas in a pod, those two. She has his brains, that's for sure. Still, it's hard. I try to help out best I can, same with his best friend, Jack."

Rose perked up. "I met him earlier! He brought Jenny to class today. Picked her up too."

"Yeah, John called me and told me Jack was watching her. So what'd you think of him?"

"He's..."

Donna laughed. "That he is. He may drive me barmy, but he is really great. What about my brother?"

"What about him?" Rose frowned.

"What did you think of him?"

"Yes was nice. We. um, we've met before actually."

"Really? When?"

"Oh gosh, I think it was about five years ago. I was leaving work one night and these students were holding a protest outside, they got a bit rowdy and had me cornered. That's when your brother swooped in and rescued me."

Donna, who was taking a sip of her drink, began choking. "W-what?"

"Yeah. Totally saved the day. Or night," she said with a grin, which faltered when she saw how wide Donna's eyes had become. "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine. Just fine. N-nothing's wrong."

"Right. Listen, Donna, this has been great, but it's getting late and I have work in the morning. Hopefully see you soon?"

She stood and gave the younger blonde a hug. "Yes, yes. I told John I would take Jenny to class on Thursday, so I'll see you then. I am so glad he decided to let her stay on!"

"Me too," Rose replied, trying to hid her disappointment in not seeing Donna's brother on Thursday.

* * *

"Donna? What are you doing here so late?" John asked in surprise as his sister stormed into his kitchen at nine o'clock at night.

The woman in question crossed her arms. "It's not like you're asleep. You're never asleep at this time."

"But my daughter is, so do you mind keeping your voice down. What's going on?"

"Rose."

John sat up a little straighter from where he was sitting at the table. "Sorry?"

"You heard me! Why didn't you tell me that Jenny's coach was your 'her-name-is-Rose' Rose!?"

"I didn't think it was important."

"Pull the other one."

"Donna, it was five years ago. I was honestly surprised she even remembered me."

"Of course she remembered you, you Dumbo! You saved her bloody life. That tends to make a pretty big impact on a girl."

"It really wasn't that big of a deal," he told her as he tugged on his ear nervously.

Donna sat next to her brother and took his hand. "After that night, you were different. You started to be happy again. Are you going to sit here and tell me that she had nothing to do with that?"

"We only spoke for a few minutes."

"Sometimes that's all it takes." She grinned. "When you know, you know."

"Bloody hell, Donna, don't do this."

"Do what?" she squawked.

"This!" He held his hands out forcefully. "Don't try to something happen between Rose and I. You hate it when mum tries to set you up, so don't do it to me."

"I'm not trying to set you two up, but so what if I was. Rose is amazing and Jenny absolutely adores her. What would be wrong if seeing if there could be something between you two?"

"There are so many reasons, I can't even list them all! One of the main ones is that she is far to young for me."

"Pshaw. Age is nothing but a number."

"I'm not looking to be married again, Donna. I'm happy with how things are now. I don't need a wife to make my life complete or anything."

"It would be nice if Jenny could have a mother," Donna said quietly.

John practically growled. "Yes that would be, but her mother abandoned her."

"Yes, your right, her birth mother did, but your honestly telling me that you don't think Jenny would benefit in the long run from having a mother-like influence in her life?"

"She has you."

Donna smiled. "Of course she does. She will always have me. But we both know it's not the same thing."

He rubbed his eyes, showing his sister just how tired he really was. "I don't know what you expect me to do, Donna."

"Just... don't be so closed off to the idea of loving again. That's all." With the Donna stood and kissed the top of her brother's head. "Try to get some sleep, yeah?" she told him right before leaving out the back door.

* * *

Before Rose knew it, two weeks had passed and she had only seen Dr. John Noble twice. Both times it was only when he was picking Jenny up from class and Rose had been too busy speaking with the other parents or helping some of the kids with their stunts, to speak with him. Was he avoiding her? She shook her head, hoping that wasn't the case.

Now it was Sunday, and Rose had decided to walk home from The Sparrow and Nightingale, which had closed early so Sally and Larry could take a trip out to see Larry's sister Kathy, in Hull. The walk home was a long one, but it was a nice day, and Rose figured she could always use the exercise. Rose passed by a flower shop and on a whim, ran inside and purchased a single pink Rose. The walk home would lead her right past the cemetery and it had been awhile since she had stopped by her father's grave.

Once at her dad's grave site, Rose brushed off some of the leaves and dirt that had collected on the headstone, and rested her flower on top of it. She sighed in discomfort. She never cared for it visiting here. It never brought her the peace or comfort like it did for people on the telly. She never felt like she was closer to her dad and could talk to him while there. She usually went out of guilt more than anything else. She knew her mum found it too difficult to visit, and the thought of nobody ever visiting at all, made Rose sad.

Rose stood over her father's grave and wondered what he would think of her if he was still around? Would Rose had still gotten into all the trouble she did as a teenager if he had been there? How different would her life be if her dad had never died. She hoped he would be proud of her, but honestly wasn't sure. Yes, she worked hard now, and was trying to make a better life for her and her mum, but for so long she had been so reckless. How disappointed would he have been in here. Rose sighed. "Guess I'll never know."

With her head still bent reverently, Rose turned and walked back towards the path. When she did, she ran smack into another person. "Oh god, Sorry! Sorry! I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going."

"Suppose that makes two of us!"

Rose looked up and grinned when she realised that she had literally ran right into John Noble. "John!"

"Rose!" he exclaimed in equal surprise. "What are you doing here? Wait that's a stupid question. Don't answer that. We're in a cemetery and it is none of my business."

"S' alright," she said with a giggle before looking around. "Where's Jenny?"

He sniffed. She's spending the day with my parents. Thankfully Donna will be there too so the poor love shouldn't be too bored!"

"That bad? I thought grandparents were supposed to be fun and spoil their children."

"Not my parents," he said with an eye roll. "So where were you headed next?"

"Home," she answered. "You?"

"The same. Were you planning on walking?"

"I was planning on it, yeah."

"Would you mind... I mean you can say no. I'd understand if you'd rather not, but..."

Noticing how nervous he seemed to be, Rose took pity on him with a gleeful tongue in teeth grin. "John, would you like to walk with me?"

His face lit up. "Molto Bene!"

"Riiighht. Come on then, this way."

Just as they were leaving the cemetery, Rose tripped over a fallen tree branch. "Whoa there." John grabbed her hand to steady her. "You alright?"

"Yeah," she responded breathlessly. She tried hard not to show how is touch was affecting her so strongly.

Keeping a hold of her hand, he led her back out on to the sidewalk. "Which way is home for you?"

"This way," she pointed to the right, "but hold on. Do you smell chips?"

He took a deep breath. "Yeah, yeah."

"I want chips!" she told him. "I was running late for work this morning and skipped breakfast. Do you mind if we stop?"

"Fine with me," he told her kindly.

"This way," she said as they walked towards the smell of the frying potatoes. "Chips on me. Time I finally paid you back for that cab."

* * *

_**Coming Soon: The Day to Remember**_

**Please Review! xoxo**


	5. The Day to Remember

**A/N: Another chapter? So soon? Say thank you to my real life job for sending me home early :) Many, many thanks go to my followers, those who have favorited, and those who have reviewed. You guys are the best and I hope you like this one!**

**Quick note: I switched a couple of future chapters around that I have planned. Because of this, I went back and changed the "coming soon" portion of the last chapter. No worries though! Nothing from the story was actually changed! I just wanted to let you know in case there was some confusion over why this chapter ****_wasn't_**** titled "The Birthday Party." That will be the next chapter now.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That goes to the BBC.**

* * *

The decision to let Jenny continue on in gymnastics wasn't an easy one for John Noble. It wasn't that he didn't want his daughter to excel and make friends, quite the contrary, he just knew how cruel other children could be. Before he started attending the Gallifrey Academy, his sister was best friend. His only friend really. Other children just never seemed to understand him and his odd way of speaking. He didn't mind that the other kids didn't know what he was talking about, in fact, he enjoyed explaining new things to them, it was that they didn't care to learn. That baffled him. Donna never seemed to mind. That was when John tried acting more "normal" in hopes of fitting in better. Needless to say, it didn't work. And John hated the thought that his daughter might feel the need to dumb herself down in order to make friends. There was no longer a Gallifrey Academy for her to learn at (not that he would send her there if there was), there wasn't a place for children like her to gather and learn new things together.

His daughter insisted on continuing. She begged and pleaded, listing all the wonderful things about her gymnastics class and telling him all about the new friends she had made. Mostly, she spoke of her coach, Rose Tyler. His little girl positively loved Rose, there was no denying that. And it seemed like the feeling had been mutual with the coach. In the end, there had been no denying Jenny. And John had to admit, he rather looked forward to seeing Rose once more.

Then there had to be a bloody emergency at the hospital with one of the patients and of course they needed him to consult. Right away. He thought about calling Donna, she was who he always asked to care for Jenny if he couldn't, but he felt bad. She had just spent everyday _and _night for the past two weeks caring for his daughter. That's a lot of work for someone to deal with when it isn't actually their child. Instead, he decided to call his second choice, his longtime friend, Jack Harkness. He was running a risk of Jack hitting on Rose (something he did not want to think about), but he would just make sure to have Jenny keep an eye on him. Besides himself, she was the best person at keeping the charming captian in line. It helped that Jack was a natural with the little girl and was basically wrapped around her little finger.

* * *

When John had walked through his front door that evening the first thing Jack did was whistle. "That coach of Jenny's was pretty good looking."

"Oh good grief. Tell me you didn't hit on her," he said as he collapsed on to the sofa.

"Are you kidding me?" Jack questioned with a laugh. "Your daughter wouldn't have let me if I tried. All I did was introduce myself."

"That's all you usually need to do."

"True. But, it wouldn't have mattered. I saw the way her shoulders slumped when she realised it wasn't you dropping the kid off or that you also wouldn't be picking her up."

"Shove off," John replied with an eye roll.

"Deny all you want, but I see it in your glare. You did not want me hitting on her. And not just cause it annoys you when I do that!"

"It annoys me because you claim to be in love with my sister, yet you hit on anything that moves."

"I am in love with your sister. She just doesn't feel the same about me. I'm not going to sit around and twiddle my thumbs while I wait for her to realise how damn loveable I am."

John scowled. "What your language, my daughter's sensitive ears are around here somewhere."

"She's in the media room watching a documentary Donna bought her on bees," Jack told him with a laugh.

After that, John's mind really couldn't stop thinking about Rose. Had she been disappointed not to see him? Certainly not. She was young and beautiful, why in the world would she be interested in an old man like him? True, he was a bit foxy, but still, she had her whole life ahead of her. No point in wasting it on him. It didn't help any when Donna stopped by that night and planted the idea of dating again in his mind. Not that he wanted to. Nope. He certainly did not want to start dating again. Especially a certain blonde gymnastics coach.

* * *

As two weeks went by, he only saw Rose twice. Both times while picking Jenny up and both times she had been busy with other children or their parents. Had she been avoiding him? He certainly hoped not. If he was going to Jenny continue on in gymnastics he would need to at least be able to get on with her.

And then that day arrived. The day he spent every other day of the year trying not to think about. The funny thing is, the date holds not importance really, it's just the day he chose to remember his wife and the child they almost had together. This year, much to his reluctance, his parents, Sylvia and Geoff, insisted on keeping Jenny with them for the day. It wasn't that he didn't trust them to care for her. Obviously they knew how to care for a child. They just don't understand her. The same way they never understood him. Thankfully, Donna knew he would be worried and insisted that she would pick up their Gramps and go spend the day with Jenny as well.

He generally liked to be alone on this day. The one exception being that he would meet Jack that evening for a drink. It had been their tradition since John had first lost his wife. Even then, they hardly ever spoke. Instead they just sat silently and remembered. Together.

So when he literally ran into one Rose Tyler at the cemetery, he found himself shocked when he asked (or rather she asked for him) if he could walk with her home. It was even more shocking when he agreed to get chips with her. What was he doing?! This was his day to brood and be gloomy. Not flirt with some twenty-something year old girl. _Then again_, he reasoned with himself, _she had been had the cemetery too. Maybe they could brood together. She certainly didn't expect this to be a date or something. Right? Oh hell._

* * *

"My dad," she told him as she placed a plate of chips between them. "Do you mind?" she asked, nodding towards the vinegar.

"No," he told her, watching was she sprinkled the vinegar over the steamy potatoes. He then tried hard not to stare as she bit into a chip and moaned in a very distracting way. "Sorry, what did you say about your dad?"

"You asked me earlier what I was doing in the cemetery. I was visiting my dad's grave."

"I'm sorry. Did you lose him recently?"

She shook her head. "He died when I was still a baby. Don't even remember him."

"I'm sorry."

Rose took a bite before responding. "Not your fault."

He shrugged. "Not your's either. But I'm still sorry. Was today something important? Is that why you were visiting?"

"Nope. I was just walking home from work and knew I would be passing by. Thought I might as well stop. To be completely honest, I really dislike going there."

He raised his eyebrows. "Why's that?"

"It's just... You know how people go to their loved one's graves and they say it helps them feel closer to the one who passed, makes 'em feel like they can talk to that person or something? Well, I don't feel that way. I go and I see this gravestone that has my dad's name on it. Peter Alan Tyler. Beloved husband and father, it says. And I read it like I'm reading a sign in front of a shop telling me no food or drinks inside. I feel nothin' from it. I don't know." She shrugged. "Maybe I would feel different if I could actually remember him or something. Then I just feel worse though. Cause it shouldn't matter. Either way he was still my dad! My mum doesn't go, and not because she feels the same as me, but because it's too hard. She feels too much from going. And I just feel the opposite." Suddenly Rose felt her cheeks flame in embarrassment. She hardly knew this man and here she was baring her soul and telling him things she hadn't even told Mickey!

John couldn't believe his ears. Honestly, he had been expecting Rose to tell him that the reason she hated cemeteries was because she found them creepy. But instead, she described exactly how he felt and the guilt that accompanied those feelings.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," she stated when she realised how quiet he was being. "That was rude of me. I get that not everybody feels the same way I do and you were there, which obviously means you were most likely visiting someone's grave and I'm really, really sorry!" she apologised profusely.

"Are you done?" he asked with a laugh. "You have no reason to apologise! I was just surprised by your feelings. Actually, I share them with you."

"You do?"

"Mmm. After my wife died, everyone expected me to be at her grave every other day. But, I would go and just feel... lost. Romana and I shared no special memories there, so why in the world would going there make me feel closer to her."

"Is that who you were visiting today?" Rose asked quietly.

John realised what he had just said. He never spoke of Romana to anyone besides Donna, Jack, or his gramps. And even then it was very rare. He couldn't believe that he had just spilled those things to Rose, and to make matters more complicated, it felt nice to get them out there. Deciding he might as well run with it (this was his day to remember after all), he answered with an equally quiet, "Yes."

"S' a beautiful name."

He have a small chuckle. "She hated it."

"Was today something important?"

"Not at all. It's just a day I chose at random after she passed. I decided that I didn't want to go on her birthday or even our anniversary, because those were happy memories. And going on the actual day she died seemed really rather much. So I flipped open a calendar and my finger landed on this day. It's been my tradition ever since."

"How long has it been? If you don't mind me asking..."

John shook his head. "It's been eight years and sometimes it feels like it's been decades longer. Other times it feels like just yesterday."

Rose reached across the table and took his hand in her's. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," he repeated her earlier words.

"Not your's either," she responded. "Still sorry though."

He didn't say anything. How many times had he been told that it wasn't his fault? He didn't believe it then and as much as he wanted to, he didn't believe it now. He physically shook himself. "Past's in the past. Moving on. You said you were walking home from work. I thought you worked at the gym?"

Rose took a deep breath. He clearly didn't want to talk about this anymore. And why should he? Rose grew up with her mum avoiding questions about her dad and his death. Why should she expect it to be any different for John Noble. Going along with his change of subject she answered, "That's just my evening job."

"Just your evening job? Where else do you work?"

"Well during the week days I still work at Henricks, during the afternoons and evenings I'm at UNIT, and on the weekends I work at The Sparrow and Nightingale. It's an antique shop that specialises in old and rare books."

"Three jobs?" he exclaimed. "Good lord, woman. When do you rest?"

"Sorry, what's this 'rest' you speak of?" she asked, her tone completely deadpan.

"Seriously though. Why three?"

"Just trying to make a better life for my mum and I," she answered with a shrug that didn't fool John. He had a feeling there was more to her story, but didn't want to push.

"That must be pretty exhausting."

"I make do. It's just my mum and me and she doesn't seem to mind my schedule too much. Better than lazing about the flat I suppose."

"You're young though," he pointed out awkwardly. "Don't you ever go out and do... young things...?"

"I'm not that young," Rose informed him with a laugh. "I went out a lot in my youth. I'm sort of over that stage of my life."

"I understand that. You ready?" he asked, nodding to the now empty plate of chips.

"Yeah," she stood and followed his lead out the front door of the chip shop.

* * *

"So... what about your boyfriend?" John asked after a few minutes of walking in silence.

"Excuse me?"

"You," he cleared his throat, "said it was just you and your mum and she didn't mind your schedule. What about your boyfriend? Does he mind?"

Rose bit her lip and turned her head for a moment, hoping her hair would hide the blush now creeping up her cheeks. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"Oh. Why not?"

"Blimey your inquisitive." She giggled. "I had a boyfriend, but we broke up a few of years ago. There were no hard feelings though. He's still one of my best friends in fact."

"That's good. I mean about you still being friends of course," he clarified. "Not good to you two breaking up."

Rose resisted the urge to laugh and instead asked him, "What about you?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you seeing anyone?"

"No. Nope. No one." He tugged on his ear nervously. "Sort of hard, with Jenny and all. And that's fine. I don't mind really."

"That's... good," she told him. "To you not minding, I mean."

"Right."

"Yep."

* * *

Rose took deep calming breaths as they continued the walk back to her home. They were just walking and making random chit chat, but it had to be the most comfortable she's been with anyone in a long time. Even with the few awkward moments. In fact, she had found those rather endearing. She would walk with him everyday if she could. _Thank god he's not a mind reader, _Rose thought to herself. She would surely be mortified if he knew just what his presence was doing to her at the moment.

As they reached closer to her home, she began growing uneasy. It wasn't that she was ashamed of living on a council estate, far from it, she just didn't want John looking badly on her because of it. She was working hard to get a better place for her and mum, but for the moment the Powell Estate was still home. She doubted John had ever even stepped foot in that area. Would he let Jenny continue in gymnastics if he knew where she was from? The logical part of her brain told her that he wasn't that high and mighty, but there was no denying how extremely protective he was of his daughter.

Rose thanked the stars above when they walked past a Tesco's. "Oh, damn. I forgot I told my mum I would stop in here for her and pick up a few groceries. Um, you don't have to wait for me. I might be a while."

"Oh. Alright," he told her, trying to hide the disappointment in his tone. "I'll, uh, see you on Tuesday then?"

"Yes! Absolutely. I'll be there." _Smooth, Rose, _she chastised herself.

"Brilliant!"

Rose gave a small wave, resisting her body's urge to give the man a hug. "Bye, then."

"Bye." When she made it a few steps away he called out. "Rose!"

"Yeah?"

John raced forward a few steps to be closer to her. "See, the thing is, Jenny's birthday is next Saturday. And we're not doing a party or anything this year, I promised her a trip instead," he informed, "but, we're still going to be doing this family dinner and I was wondering if you would like to come. Jenny would just love to have you there."

Rose let out a shaky breath. "I'd love to come! But, I mean, you said it's a family dinner. Are you sure I won't be imposing?"

"Not at all. Like I said, Jenny would just love having you there. So would Donna. Give her someone to talk to besides my mother."

Rose laughed."Okay then. I'll be there."

John grinned brightly. "Fantastic! I'll give you all the details this week when I bring Jenny to UNIT, yeah?"

"Yeah."

* * *

"Alright. Spill," Jack Harkness demanded two hours later.

John had shown up at his flat, like he did every year, twittering around the place like a nervous bird. Jack, assuming his friend was just having an off day, brushed it aside and handed the guy a beer. The two old friends hardly ever spoke on this day. On the rare occasions they did, it was John and John alone who would start the conversations. But after two hours of watching him pull out every spare thread from a throw pillow, Jack had had enough.

John looked at him with wide eyes. "I don't know what you mean."

"Yes, you do. You've been acting like a jittery fool from the moment you stepped in here. What's going on? You didn't take any of your fancy experimental drugs from the hospital, did you?"

"Honestly, Jack, I think I'm smart enough not to take anything that hasn't been tested... Again. I'm smart enough not to do it again. Now can we drop this? I'm fine."

Jack smirked. "Try again."

"No."

"You're dying to tell me."

"I'm really not."

"If you say so."

Not even ten seconds went by before John blurted out, "I ran into Rose Tyler at the cemetery! We then took a walk together and had chips and then walked some more."

"Huh. This would be Jenny's coach, correct?"

"Yes."

"And you had a bad time?" he prompted.

John sighed. "Not at all. I had a bloody wonderful time and I felt like a sixteen year old all over again. I haven't felt this way since..."

"You haven't felt this way since Romana."

"Yeah." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why did it have to be this day? Of all days."

Jack moved to sit closer to his friend. "Listen, I didn't know Romana all that well. But I don't think she would have wanted you to be alone for the rest of your life."

"I'm not alone! I have Jenny."

"It's not the same, Doc," Jack told him, using the nickname he gave his friend when they first met.

"You sound like Donna."

"Well, Donna's brilliant. And sexy. And so am I."

That cracked a smile. "God, you're full of yourself."

"Just... take it one day at a time. Who knows what could happen?"

"I invited her to Jenny's birthday dinner."

"Did you?" Jack questioned in genuine surprise. "That'll be great."

Something hit John at that moment. "Oh god, my parents will be there! What the hell was I thinking!? They'll eat her alive!"

Jack placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Calm down. Donna and I will both be there to referee. Not to mention Wilf and the birthday girl herself. It'll be fine. Your mother loves me. Just sit me next to her and I'll keep her distracted."

John sighed a slumped lower in his chair. "Yeah, I guess that might work. Can we go back to not talking now?"

"Sure thing, Doc."

* * *

_**Coming Soon: The Birthday Party**_

**Please review! xoxo**


	6. The Birthday Party

**A/N: Another chapter! Big thanks to my followers, those of you who have favorited, and to everyone who has left such lovely reviews! You guys are the best. This chaper really focuses on Rose's perspective, so there's not a lot of John's point of view. But never fear! We'll get his take on things in the next chapter :) Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That goes to the BBC.**

* * *

Rose was practically buzzing with excitement as she perused the local Tesco's. John had invited her over for Jenny's birthday. From the sounds of it, it was only going to be a family affair and he invited her to come too. But was it because he was just trying to please his little girl? Or was it because he actually wanted her there? Common sense told her that it was his daughter's birthday and John just wanted to make her happy. But Rose couldn't help the butterflies she felt when she thought about him perhaps being interested in her. Who was she kidding? He was a doctor. Why in the world would he be interested in a simple shop girl, like herself? Forcing herself to stop thinking such bleak thoughts of herself, Rose purchased a container of her mum's favorite biscuits and headed back to their flat.

* * *

"Mum?" she called out as she walked in the front door. "I'm home."

Jackie Tyler popped out from the kitchen. "Rose, sweetheart, what are you doing home so early? Oh, you weren't sacked, were ya?"

"No, mum. I wasn't sacked." She walked forward and placed a kiss to her mother's cheek. "Sally closed the shop early. She's going with Larry to visit Kathy for a couple of days in Hull."

Leading her daughter to the kitchen table, Jackie replied, "That's nice. Can't remember the last time you were home this early."

Rose felt a stab of guilt. With her busy work schedules, she was really only home to sleep. The few times she saw her mum was if the older Tyler woman had stayed up late to make Rose a cuppa. "I know, mum. I'm sorry. But I'm here now! How about I order us some Chinese for tonight? Or maybe a pizza if you'd rather?"

Jackie smiled at her daughter. "That's sweet of you, Rose, but I'm making shepherd's pie for tea. Mickey's coming by in a bit."

"What for?" she asked in shock. She found it a little surprising that Mickey would come over to visit if she wasn't there."

"Telly's acting funny, and himself thinks he can fix it."

"Does he do that often? Drop by and fix things?"

Her mum shrugged. "Sometimes. It's just, with you always working, there's not always someone to talk to. He pops by now and again to keep me company."

Rose threw her arms around her mother's neck. "I'm sorry, mum. I'm doing this for us though! You know that."

"I know, I know. And I appreciate that, sweetheart. I really do. You just work so hard. You need to take a break every once in a while."

"I'll try, mum," she appeased. "Now tell me how Mickey has time to stop in here? Isn't he seeing Trisha Delaney?"

"Honestly, Rose!" Jackie scolded. "They broke things off months ago. You would know that if you were around more. Mickey's a free man," she said in a sing-song voice.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, mum. We are not having this conversation again. I love Mickey. He's family. But I'm not in love with him. He's my best mate and that's all he's ever going to be."

"But you were good together! He made you happy after-"

"I know."

"So why can't you just settle down with him? He has a decent job at the garage, so you wouldn't have to work so hard."

"Mum!" Rose groaned. "Enough."

Jackie sighed. "Fine. It's your life."

* * *

"So, mum told me that you weren't seein' Trisha anymore," Rose casually mentioned to Mickey an hour later as he worked on the television. Jackie had gone downstairs to console her friend, Bev, who had just gone through a nasty divorce.

He snorted. "Way to catch up with the times, Rose."

"I'm sorry," she told him quietly.

"What for?" he asked, looking up from his project.

"That you two broke up and for being such an awful friend."

Temporarily abandoning his work, he moved to sit next to Rose on the sofa. "The breakup wasn't anything major. We only went on dates here and there. Nothin' serious. And your not an awful friend."

"I feel like one."

"Well, your not. A bit wrapped up in your work life, maybe, but that doesn't make you a bad person."

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "I have my reasons, ya know. For working so hard," she clarified.

"Course you do," he agreed. "But your going to work yourself into an early grave. Your mum worries about you. A lot."

"What am I supposed to do, Mickey!?" Rose snapped.

"Maybe not work three jobs?!" he snapped right back.

"I need the money, Mickey. You know that."

He eyed her carefully. "I thought you took care of the debt already."

"I did. But I'm saving up, Micks. I need to get my mum out of here and into a nicer, safer place to live."

"Jackie doesn't mind it here. The Powell Estate has been her home for years now. Living on a counsel estate doesn't bother her."

Rose leaved forward and buried her face in her hands. "Well it bothers me. I need to know that if I go away someday that my mum is safe and sound in a nice flat."

"Just where do you plan on going?" Mickey scoffed.

"Away. I want to go places. Travel. I love London, but don't you just get sick and tired of it?"

"I'm not like you, Rose," he said in a whisper. "I'm content with my life." He took a deep breath and held it. "We could have been great together, you and me. But I was never good enough for you."

Rose moved her hands from her face and stared at him in shock. "Don't say that, Mickey! You're my best mate, yeah? We just want different things out of life. That's why things didn't work out with us. You could never not be good enough for me. If anything, you are way too good for me. I've never deserved you."

Mickey kissed the top of her head. "That's where you're wrong, babe."

"Care to agree to disagree?"

He let out a chuckle. "Sure. So tell me what's up with you. I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."

She shrugged. "Not much really. Just work for the most part."

"Yeah? You.. uh... you seein' anyone?"

"No," she answered quickly.

"I'll take that as a yes then."

"Shut up! I'm really not seeing anyone."

Mickey quirked an eyebrow. "I know that look. Been seeing you make that look from the moment you turned thirteen. There's someone you're interested in."

"Don't be silly. Now come on. Mum will probably be back soon and want to watch some telly which means you need to get back to work."

"Whatever you say, Rose."

* * *

Thankfully the rest of the evening passed pleasantly and quickly. In was nice spending time with her mum and Mickey. Rose hadn't even realised just how much she missed them. After the tragedy that was her relationship with Jimmy, Mickey had been at the Tyler flat practically every day. And it was nice falling back into their old routines of having tea and watching mindless television. It wasn't the way Rose wanted to spend the rest of her life, but she enjoyed having the moment.

With the end of summer drawing near, Henricks was a mad house of mad parents with mad children and teenagers. The plus side was Monday passed by rather quickly for Rose, as did her work hours of Tuesday. The downside was that she had been on her feet for hours on end and was utterly exhausted and frazzled from dealing with the demands of the Henricks shoppers. Her bright spot throughout the day though was remembering that she would be seeing John that evening.

* * *

Rose grinned in delight as Jenny Noble ran through the front door of UNIT.

"Miss Rose!" the little squealed as she jumped into her coach's arms. "Guess what?!"

"What?" she asked dutifully.

"My daddy says you're coming over for my birthday on saturnday!"

"That's Saturday, poppet," her father's voice corrected as he made his way in the gym.

"That's what I said," Jenny huffed.

"Hello, Rose," he greeted.

"Hello, John," she replied.

"And guess what else?" Jenny asked, drawing their attention back to her. "My Uncle Jack is making spar..spage.."

"Spaghetti," John offered helpfully.

"Yeah, that!"

"Sounds delicious!" Rose exclaimed. "I can't wait. Now I believe Melody's over at the mats waiting to warm up. Why don't you go and get started with her."

"Okay! Bye, daddy."

He bent down and kissed her on the cheek. "Bye, love." He shook his head as he watched her bound off towards her friend. "She may be a little genius, but she still has trouble with her words when she gets excited."

Rose giggled. "I think it's adorable."

John cleared his throat and pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket. "These are the directions to our house. I wasn't sure of exactly where you lived so I wrote them out from here and that's my address there at the bottom."

"That's great. Thanks. What time should I get there?"

"Around six is probably good."

"Sounds good. Do you need me to bring anything?"

"Just yourself!" He grinned broadly and bounced on the balls of his feet.

"I think I can manage that," she said playfully.

He took a deep breath. "Thank you. For coming, I mean. Jenny was over the moon when I told her. She's taken quite the shine to you."

Rose felt a blush creep up her cheeks. "It's my pleasure. I adore her." She leaned closer and whispered, "I know I shouldn't say this here, but truthfully? She's my favourite."

John shared a grin with her. "Well, course she is," he preened. "She's my daughter."

"You think you're so impressive!" she teased him with a laugh.

"I am so impressive," he told her, straightening out his suit jacket.

"Right then, Mr. Impressive, I've got to go teach gymnastics now. See you in a bit?"

"I'll be here."

* * *

Before she knew it, it was Saturday evening and Rose was walking up the drive to John and Jenny's house. She clutched the small, wrapped present she had in her hand and once more prayed that the little girl would like it. Rose had had a terrible time trying to think of something to get the little girl. What do you get for a child who's turning four, but has the IQ of someone much older, and has a father who's a doctor? It took some time, but finally Rose had settled on an old wooden music box from the early fifties. It was still in excellent condition, but looked a bit plain. So, she did something she hadn't done in years, and pulled out her old art set and went to work on painting Jenny's name on the top.

Rose took a deep breath as she raised her hand to knock on the surprisingly blue door of the house. The house itself was rather deceiving. While it seemed to have three floors, it also appeared to be rather small on the outside, but when John answered the front door, she could tell that she was greatly mistaken.

"You made it!" he greeted cheerfully.

"Course I did," she responded as she smoothed out the light yellow summer dress she had chosen to wear.

"So," he clapped his hands together, "where do you want to start?"

Rose looked around the large foyer she was standing in. She suddenly felt like little orphan Annie when she first entered Daddy Warbuck's mansion. "The inside's bigger than the outside?"

He laughed. "That it is! Here come this way," he led her through the foyer and down some winding halls. "I would give you a grand tour, but honestly that would take us ages. This place can be a bit confusing at times."

"I can see that." Rose laughed as she followed him through the twists and turns until they made it through to the kitchen. "Your home is lovely though."

"Thank you. I'm rather proud of it."

"Miss Rose! Miss Rose! You're here!" Jenny called out as she hoped off the stool she had been standing on while helping Jack stir the pasta he was preparing.

"Hello, birthday girl! How does it feel being four?" she asked playfully.

Jenny contemplated the question. "The same," she finally answered before going back to help her uncle.

"Oh, are you a sight for sore eyes," Donna told Rose as she entered the kitchen. "She's driving me mad, John!"

"Who?" he asked innocently.

"You know who. She won't stop asking me when I plan on settling down and finding a proper man to marry me. She keeps going on and on about how I'm not getting any younger, like I'm not aware of that fact!"

Jack looked up from his cooking. "You know, Donna, if you would just give in to your feelings for me, we could solve this whole marriage problem for you. Then your mother would never bother you about it again..."

"Yeah, Jack, I'll get right on that. Thanks."

"By the way, it's nice to see you again, Rose."

"You too, Jack," she replied. "The food smells delicious."

"Thank you."

"I'm begging you, John," Donna piped back in. "Don't make me go back in there alone."

John sighed. "Alright, alright." He turned to Rose. "I'm going to warn you now, my mother can be a bit harsh. And frankly, rather rude. I apologise in advance for whatever terrible thing she might say."

Donna began tapping her foot. "Just hurry up before she comes in here looking for us!"

* * *

Rose followed the siblings through a side door and found herself in a small sitting area. "There you are, Donna," Rose heard from the older woman in the room. She could see some of Donna's features in her and rightfully assumed that this was her mum. "Oh, good. You found, John. I was wondering where you had run off to."

"I was just greeting our guest, mother," John said tiredly. "This is Rose."

"I didn't know you were seeing anyone, son," the man next to their mum said to him.

He looked away from his father. "I'm not, dad. I told you before, this is Jenny's gymnastics coach. Rose, this is my father, Geoff Noble, my mother, Sylvia Noble, and my gramps, Wilfred Mott."

"Pleasure to meet you all," Rose said kindly.

"The pleasure's ours, sweetheart," John's gramps told her. "Our little one's been going on and on about you since she started. Nice to finally meet you. And please, just call me Wilf." Rose beamed at the older man. She knew immediately that she would enjoy his company and took a seat next to him.

"Can I get you something to drink?" John offered.

"Just water please." He nodded and went back to the kitchen.

Sylvia peered at the girl. "Tell me, Rose, where do you go to school?"

"Oh, I'm not in school."

"Really? But you seem so young."

Rose tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'm twenty-four."

"I see. Well where _did_ you study at then?"

"I... um... I didn't actually go to uni," Rose told her.

Knowing full well what her mother was doing, Donna stepped in. "Mum, have you hear from Nerys recently? I heard she might be pregnant."

"Donna, your being rude. I was in the middle of a conversation with Rose." She turned back to the blonde. "So, tell me, dear. What is your profession? Certainly you don't just teach gymnastics."

Rose straightened in her seat. "No, actually, I also work at both Henricks Department Store and The Sparrow and Nightingale."

"You're a shop girl? How... quaint."

"Sylvia, will you leave the poor girl alone," Wilf scolded his daughter. "Honestly, it amazes me that you never worked for Scotland Yard. Don't pay her any mind, sweetheart," he whispered in Rose's ear as he gave a gentle squeeze to her hand.

Rose returned the pressure, grateful for his support. Just then John wandered back in with her water. "Seems like the food's ready. Shall we all make our way to the dinning room?" His eyes traveled to his gramp's and Rose's clasped hands. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Rose grinned as she stood up.

"Mum's being a cow," Donna told him after the others had left the room.

"Of course she is."

* * *

True to his word, Jack sat next to Sylvia and kept her distracted from interrogating Rose. Rose found herself sitting between John and Wilf with Jenny at the head of the table and Donna sitting across from them. She couldn't help but observe this odd little family. She loved listening to the banter between Donna and John. They teased each other constantly, but you could tell at the heart of it all, that they loved each other deeply and would always be there for one another. Their father was a quiet man and made Rose curious about what his story was. The way John avoided eye contact with his dad, made her wonder if there was some sort of rift between the two men. Wilf was loving and kind and Rose could clearly see that he just doted on his great-granddaughter. He made Rose ache for her own granddad, who had passed away when she was a teenager. Sylvia Noble was a whole other story. Rose wanted to like the older woman, she really did, but something about her set her on edge and made her throw up every defense she had. Rose didn't like feeling weak and incompetent and within knowing Mrs. Noble for only a few minutes, she did just that. Then there was Jack. While he kept up a smooth flow of conversation with Sylvia, his eyes remained focused on could tell instantly that he had it bad for the fiery ginger. Why hadn't Donna pursued that? He was clearly handsome and, from what Rose could tell, a genuinely great guy.

As the meal winded down, John brought a chocolate cake with a banana frosting. After her wishes were made and the candles blown out Jenny declared that it was "time for presents!"

* * *

Jenny jumped with excitement as she opened the first present from her Aunt Donna. "New leopard... I mean leotards! Thanks Auntie Donna!"

"You're welcome, love," she responded happily.

Next was her gift from Jack. It was a small booklet titled, "Date Nights With Uncle Jack." Inside were tickets for various things they could do together including, going from ice cream, seeing a movie at the cinema, or even ice skating once winter came.

Following that, she received some new outfits from her grandparents, and a card filled with money for her piggy bank. Her grandfather gave her a secret wink when she opened that.

It was Wilf's present that brought out an excited scream from the little girl. "My own tellyscope!?"

"Yep! Just like my tel_e_scope," he corrected her gently.

Jenny bounced up and down. "Can we set it up tonight?"

"Course we can!"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Here's your last present, poppet," John told her, handing her the small box that Rose had brought in.

Jenny opened the pink wrapping carefully, her eyes widened when the paper had cleared. "It's a music box," Rose informed her. "From the fifties. It plays three different songs." The music box had Jenny's name painted on it in a light pink and had bordered edges with various flowers in complimenting shades of pink and purple.

"Rose, that's gorgeous," Donna complimented. "How in the world did you find one with her name so beautifully painted on top?"

"Oh, I didn't. I painted that myself."

"That's-" John cleared his throat. "That's incredible."

"Thank you," she responded quietly.

Jenny used the tip of her finger to trace her name and the flowers Rose had painted on. Gently, she lifted the lid and heard _The Blue Bells of Scotland_ begin to tinker out. "Daddy! It's the song you always play!"

He smiled at his daughter. "Yes, it is."

Jenny sat the music box down and threw her arms around Rose. "Thank you, Miss Rose. It's the most beautifulest present ever."

"You're welcome," she told her as she hugged the little blonde back. She made eye contact with John over Jenny's shoulder. In the moment their eyes met, Rose knew that everything in her life was about to change.

* * *

**_Coming Soon: Getting to Know You..._**

**Please review! xoxo**


	7. Getting to Know You

**A/N: Hello all! Many many thanks to my followers, those who have favorited, and those who have reviewed. I adore each and every one of you. This chapter really focuses on John. I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That goes to the BBC.**

* * *

John smiled as he washed the dishes from their meal and looked out the kitchen window where Jenny was patiently waiting for her gramps to finish setting up her new telescope. It reminded him of when he was Jenny's age and Wilf had gotten him the same exact present. The two of them would spend hours outside, looking through their telescopes, studying the night sky. It drove his mother absolutely mad, but he didn't care. A loud laugh, that he instantly knew belonged to his sister, brought him out of his memories.

He gave a small chuckle as he saw Donna and Jack a few steps away from the stargazing pair. They were leaning close and Jack seemed to be whispering something amusing in Donna's ear. He saw a blush grace his sister's cheek before she took a step back. John sighed. He knew she cared for Jack, and if she was being honest, probably was in love with him too. But she was scared of getting hurt. That bastard ex-fiance of her's made her feel like she couldn't trust any man. And while Jack was head over heels for Donna, he didn't do much to reassure her that he would stay monogamous. Jack flirted. A lot. And John knew that it made Donna nervous that if she gave her heart to him he wouldn't keep it safe. He had tried talking to them, but he was no expert in relationships. Obviously.

His mind drifted to Rose. He couldn't deny his attraction to her. She was gorgeous. From what Donna told him in hurried whispers before their meal, his mother had interrogated her rather rudely. But instead of being rude right back, apparently Rose handled it with complete grace and dignity. And from the sly winks his gramps kept sending him, it seemed that Wilfred Mott approved of Rose Tyler whole heartedly. There was no doubt in his mind that his daughter loved her as well. The music box Rose had given here was the perfect gift. And the fact that she took the time to so beautifully paint the front, meant more to him than he ever thought possible.

John had never thought about being in a relationship again. He dated a bit here and there before Jenny came along, but after his daughter arrived, the thought of dating anyone was out of the question. His daughter needed to be his sole focus and he would not have any woman think that she would come first in his eyes. It would always be his little girl. He admitted that there were times where he worried what he would do once his daughter started asking...womanly... questions. He may be a doctor, but he was still a dad, and there were some talks dads just did not want to discuss. There was Donna though, and John just assumed that she could handle all of that stuff. Was that fair of him though? To expect someone, who was in no way shape or form responsible for the existence of this little girl, to take on such a big responsibility?

He thought back to the first full night he had Jenny. She wouldn't stop crying and he was in absolute panic mode...

* * *

"I don't know how to make her stop!" he snapped at Donna when she arrived after a desperate call at three am.

She held her hands up. "Alright. Calm down. Is she wet? Hungry?"

"No! I've changed her, I've fed her, I've rocked her, and sang to her, I've done every blasted thing you can imagine and she won't bloody well stop." He slumped down in the rocking chair he had thankfully bought just days before. "I can't do this, Donna. I can't be a dad. Before, I could have, but not now."

"Hush!" she scolded and bent down next to the chair so he could hear her better over the baby's cries. "You can and you will. You helped make this girl." She took his hand and laid it on Jenny's chest. "You feel that heartbeat? This little heart is a part of you. I know this isn't what you had planned, but you have to take responsibilities for your actions. You could have said no. When Vastra called and told you about this baby, you could have said, "no." You could have told her that you wanted nothing to do with her. You could have taken the same path River did and had her put up for adoption, but you didn't. You kept her. Why?"

He sniffed. "Why what?"

"Why did you keep her?"

"I just... I couldn't imagine... I couldn't imagine not keeping her."

"John, this is going to be scary. You're a dad! But I'm your sister and I will be with you every step of the way. You are not alone in this, spaceman."

That was when John realised how quiet it had become. "She stopped," he whispered.

"Course she did." Donna smirked. "She was feeling your emotions. More often than not, if you stay calm, she will too eventually."

"I love you, twin."

"I love you too, twin."

* * *

"Need any help?" Rose voice brought him back to present day.

"Oh, I'm fine," John told her. "You can go out back with the others if you'd like."

"I don't mind. Tell ya what, why don't you wash and I'll dry. Teamwork, yeah?"

"Yeah."

She picked up a nearby dishrag and began drying off the plates. "So, what's the story with those two?" She nodded out the window, towards Jack and Donna.

John sighed. "Who knows. Jack claims he's in love with Donna, but Donna won't believe him. More like she's too afraid to believe him, is how I see it."

"She must have a hard time trusting men after that stunt her ex pulled at their wedding."

"She told you about Lance?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah. We had coffee not too long ago and she told me a bit about her past relationships. Is that bad?"

"Not at all," he told her vehemently. "Truthfully, I'm rather glad she's confided in you. A lot of her other friends are obnoxious snobs. Can't stand 'em. So I'm glad she's hanging out with someone who's-"

"Not an obnoxious snob?"

"Exactly!"

"So you say Jack's in love with Donna, but do you think she's in love with him too?"

"I think so, but she's so stubborn, she'll never admit it. Get's that from our mum. Don't tell her I said that," he added in a nervous whisper.

"I won't." Rose giggled.

"Speaking of my mother, I'm sorry. Donna told me that she was being rude to you. I really apologise."

"She wasn't so bad," Rose assured. "Your gramps is real sweet! Your dad seemed kind, if not a bit quiet. I noticed you..." she trailed off.

"Noticed what?" John prompted her.

"Never mind." She shook her head embarrassedly. "It's really none of my business."

"Well, now you've got my curiosity peaked! Come on," he teased. "I promise to take no offence."

Rose focused on thoroughly drying the lid to the saucepan. "You seemed... You seemed to avoid eye contact with your dad. I was just wondering if perhaps you two didn't get along so well."

"Very perceptive." He gave her a small reassuring smile. "You're right. My father and I do not see eye to eye on many things. Doesn't approve of decisions I've made. Because of that, I avoid any serious conversation with him as much as possible."

"That must be hard. I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "I'm used to it. It's started when I was just a kid."

"What do you mean?"

John took a deep breath. He didn't just tell people about this type of stuff often, but he trusted Rose, and, for some strange reason, he wanted her to know. "When I was eight years old I was recruited and invited to attend The Gallifrey Academy for Higher Learning."

Rose blinked. "Never heard of it."

"No, I didn't think you would. It was very hush-hush. And on top of that, it doesn't exist anymore."

"If it was so hush-hush, how did students apply?"

"They didn't. Like I said, I was recruited and invited. It was a school that specialised in teaching and training children who were extremely intelligent."

"Like yourself?" she asked with a tongue and teeth grin.

"Precisely."

"Go on then, smarty-pants."

"Well, my mother was over the moon when the Gallifrey representative explained that they had sought me out and wanted me to attend. She was so proud. Poor Donna." He shook his head. "I'm afraid my mother put her feelings on the back burner."

"So, Donna wasn't asked to go?"

"No," he replied with a twinge on sadness. "She didn't qualify. I begged and pleaded though. Told them all I wouldn't go without her. In the end it was Donna who told me to shut up and go to the bloody school. She knew how hard it was for me to make friends with the other kids in our neighbourhood, and she thought that if I attended the Academy, I could make friends with kids who were more like me."

"And did you?"

John nodded. "A few. It's where I met Romana."

"So, your mum was thrilled, but I'm guessing your dad wasn't?"

"Got it in one. He's always gotten along with Donna, but me? I don't think he's ever truly understood me. He wanted me to go to a normal school, attend the same university he did, and then eventually become a business man. Like him."

"But you're a doctor! Surely that must make him a bit proud?"

"Maybe." He shrugged. "I'm not the type of doctor he would like me to be. He would rather I work in a small practice somewhere. I'm a highly sought after specialist at the hospital. I get called to various countries all the time to diagnose or try to find cures for different diseases. But he would honestly rather I worked in a small office somewhere, treating the common cold. Not that there anything wrong with that! It's just not what I want to do."

Rose wasn't sure what to say. She wished she had some sage wisdom she could share, but nothing was coming to here. Instead she thought back to something else he had mentioned. "So you said the Academy didn't exist anymore. Why'd it close down?"

John's posture stiffened and his eyes grew dark. Rose instantly regretted her words, although she didn't understand why. "It didn't close down. It burnt down."

"What happened?" she asked quietly.

"There was a large conference going on. Anybody and everybody who had ever attended was required to be there. Everyone except me. There was some sort of virus making way through South America and there was a request made to the Academy asking for them to send a specialist in. Gallifrey's leaders insisted I was the best man for the job. I didn't want to... Romana... She was almost eight months pregnant. She told me to go though. Encouraged me even! I was only supposed to be gone for a week. Two tops." He paused. "Three nights after I left, a fire broke out in one of the labs which, for some reason, caused the security to go haywire. The buildings went into automatic lock-down on accident. Everyone was trapped as the fire spread. Some of the labs contained highly flammable materials, within minutes there were explosions in almost every wing. No survivors. Anyone who ever attended The Gallifrey Academy is gone. Except for me."

Rose gasped and slowly wiped away the tears that were running down her face. "Oh, John. That's how..."

He leaned heavily on the counter. "That's how I lost Romana."

"And your baby."

"Susan," he whispered, blinking back tears. "It was a little girl and we were going to name her Susan. Romana said her name was odd enough and insisted on a 'normal' name for our daughter."

"Susan's a lovely name."

John took a steadying breath. Now that he'd opened up, he couldn't seem to stop. "You know sometimes I look at Jenny and think that I'm a right bastard for keeping her."

"What do you mean?" she asked with a frown.

"My wife died. My daughter died before I could ever even meet her. And then... then because I had one _bloody_ moment of weakness. Suddenly I have this new little girl. And she's gorgeous and brilliant and I can't even contemplate not having her in my life. She's truly the best thing to happen to me."

"And you feel guilty because if Romana and Susan hadn't died, then you wouldn't have Jenny. That doesn't make you a bad person, John."

"It doesn't?!" he scoffed.

"Of course not! It makes you human."

He stared at her in shock. He honestly had expected her to be angry with him for thinking those thoughts and to run away as fast as possible. But here she was telling him it was perfectly natural. Who was Rose Tyler?

"A really tragic thing happened to you. But it happened and nothing can change that. And then, four years ago, something really amazing happened. And alright, so it wasn't an ideal situation, but out of it you got an amazing little girl. True, if that tragedy hadn't happened you wouldn't have Jenny." She reached over and grabbed his hand. "But it did and you do."

He squeezed her hand. "Bet you weren't expecting to play therapist this evening?" he teased, needing to lighten the mood.

"All in a days work." She winked.

"Thank you. I... uh... I've never told anyone..."

Rose bumped his shoulder. "Anytime."

Suddenly, Jenny came bursting in the kitchen. "Daddy! Daddy! Gramps got my tellyscope set up!"

"Telescope, poppet," John corrected as he dried his hands off and scooped his little girl into a hug.

"Wanna come out and look at the stars with us?" she asked eagerly.

"I'd love too." He turned to Rose. "What do you say? Care for a little stargazing, Rose Tyler?"

"Please say yes!" Jenny encouraged.

Rose laughed at the identical pair of wide, puppy dog eyes. Like father, like daughter. "I'd love too!"

* * *

_**Coming soon: Working Hard...**_

**Please review! xoxo**


	8. Working Hard

**A/N: Big thanks to my followers, to everyone who has favorited, and to all of you who have left such nice reviews! You guys are the best. There is some mild swearing in this chapter, but I hope you still enjoy!**

**Quick note: I changed the name of this chapter, so the "Coming Soon" part of the last chapter was changed to fit. Hope there's no confusion!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That goes to the BBC.**

* * *

After a couple hours of stargazing with the Noble family, Rose turned down both Jack and Donna's offers of driving her home and instead opted to call a cab. Her goodbye with John was short and muted, both resisting the urge to kiss each other goodnight. When Rose arrived home, she was met with a distraught mother, apparently their washing machine was completely knackered and neither woman had the extra money to call for a repair man, let alone buy a new one. On top of that, an hour later, Jake had shown up at their door with bad news. Apparently, Rose's ex-boyfriend Jimmy was set to be released from prison any day now. That alone fueled Rose's plans for getting her mum off the estate.

* * *

Sometimes Rose thought back on that night at John Noble's house and it felt like it had been years since she sat in his backyard and listened as John and Wilf pointed out various constellations and told them tales of the stars. In reality it had only been a month. But in that month, Rose had barely spoken to John or his family. Oh, she saw Jenny at her normal practices, but Rose no longer stayed around for the extra free tumble time she gave the kids. Instead she left her little gymnasts in the capable hands of one of her old friends, and fellow coach, Jake Simmonds. It's not that she didn't want to stay at the gym and wait till all of the parents picked their kids up, but Henricks paid her more, and she had to rush back to the shop to pick up extra closing shifts.

Besides working her normal opening shift at Henricks, Rose was now picking up the closing shifts on both the weekdays as well as the weekends when she was done at The Sparrow and Nightingale. It was thoroughly exhausting, and she was lucky if she got more than a couple hours of sleep a night. _But it will be worth it, _she reminded herself.

* * *

"Donna," John said as he sat down to lunch with his sister a month after Jenny's birthday, "when you've taken Jenny to the gym and picked her up, have you spoken to Rose at all?"

Donna sighed and replied, "Not at all. I was wondering if you had noticed anything."

"I should never have invited her over," he stated firmly.

"What do you mean? Course you should have!"

"Obviously it was all too much. I mean, we're not even... Nothing's even... There is absolutely nothing between us and here I went and invited her over to meet my family. On top of that I went and got all emotional and told her about Romana and the Academy-"

"You told her that!?" Donna stared at him in shock. That was something he _never_ spoke of.

John rubbed his eye. "It was too much. Too soon."

"John, I doubt whatever's going on with Rose had anything to do with that. Have you paid any attention to her? The girl looks like a complete wreck."

He had noticed. He was a doctor after all, and couldn't help but see the dark circles framing her eyes. Or the hollow look to her body's frame. "Well, whatever it is it's none of our business."

"That's a load of shite."

"Donna Noble, language!"

"Shush. Jenny's napping and can't hear me."

He rolled his eyes. "Even so."

"Listen, tomorrow is Thursday. How about we head on over to UNIT early and see if we can catch Rose when she's first arriving. You know, before all the little hoodlums get there."

"What exactly do you plan on saying?"

"I just want to see if everything's okay and if there's anything we can help with. I saw the way she looked at you, John. You can't sit here and tell me that there is absolutely nothing between you two. Clearly, there's something going on in her life and maybe she needs someone to share the burden with. That someone could be you."

"Donna," he groaned. "You're not going to quit, are you?"

"Never."

* * *

Rose battled to keep her eyes open as she rode the bus from Henricks to UNIT. Normally she would have a couple of hours between the two jobs to rest. Last week though, Kate called and asked Rose to fill in for one of the other coaches, Gwen Cooper. Apparently Gwen's boyfriend, Rhys, proposed and took her away on a two week holiday to Greece. Although it just added more to her already loaded schedule, Rose readily agreed to fill in, forgetting one thing. Gwen taught a much older and more advanced group than Rose was used to. It had been years since she herself had trained as an actual gymnast and her body was reminding her why she had originally decided to teach a much younger age division.

Just as Rose was losing her battle with her drooping lids, her mobile began to vibrate.

"Ello?" she answered wearily.

_"Good grief, Rose. It's not even three o'clock and you're already drinking?!"_ her mum's voice shrieked out.

She sat up straighter. "What? Mum, I'm not drinking I'm just tired. What's going on?"

_"Oh, it's cousin Mo."_ Rose could practically hear the eye roll in her mum's tone. _"Apparently she fell down the steps leading up to her flat and went and broke her leg." _

"Oh my god, is she okay?"

_"She'll be fine, but she's asked me to come and stay with her for a few days. I just wanted to let you know that I probably won't be home till Monday at the earliest."_

"Alright. How you gonna get there?"

_"Mickey popped round to see if he could fix the washing machine, he can't by the way, and he offered me a ride. I'm gonna go ahead and take some of my laundry over to Mo's and use her washer. You want me to grab some of your's? That way you don't have to spend your money at the launderette."_

Rose smiled gratefully. "That's be great, mum. Thanks."

_"Anytime, sweetheart. Oh, Mickey's back with his car. Take care this weekend. Ta-ra!" Jackie told her happily._

"Bye, mum!" Rose answered just as the bus pulled up to her spot.

* * *

"Why are we getting there so early?" Jenny asked as she followed her dad and aunt in the direction of her gym.

"Because your daddy and I want to speak with Miss Rose," Donna answered.

Jenny shifted between the two adults. "Is Miss Rose scared?"

John frowned. "Not that I'm aware of. Why?"

"At our last class her hands kept shaking real bad. Like mine do when I'm scared!" the little girl replied logically.

John and Donna made eye contact briefly before the latter answered. "We don't know why her hands were shaking, love. But don't you worry about it. Alright?"

She smiled as they walked towards UNIT's front door. "Okay!"

* * *

When they walked in the gym they all noticed a young man with bleached blonde hair sitting at the front desk where Rose usually waited for her kids. "Hey, Jenny!" he greeted.

"Hi, Mr. Jake!" she replied.

Donna stepped forward and gave her best flirty smile. "Hi there. Donna Noble. We were hoping to speak with Rose Tyler. Is she here yet?"

"Yeah, she's here. But she's covering for another coach." He nodded to the other side of the gymnasium where Rose was demonstrating the proper way to land from the vault. "She won't be done till her own class is ready to begin. Sorry about that."

John sighed impatiently. "Do you think we could talk to her after class is over?"

"Doubt it. Rosie's been working the closing shift over at Henricks and she has to race out of here to get there on time." He gave an apologetic smile. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"No, thank you," Donna replied. "Let's just wait around. Maybe her class will end early and we can catch her before Jenny's starts."

John agreed and began nervously fiddling with his tie as he waited. Ten minutes later and most of Jenny's class had arrived. He noticed that the class Rose had been teaching seemed to be over but the woman in question was nowhere to be found. Just then a blonde girl who looked around thirteen made her way to the front.

"Hey, Jake! Rose wanted me to see if you could get her class warmed up. She needed to grab something from the office and said she'd be out in just a minute."

"Sure thing, Lynda. Mind watching the front desk for any stragglers?"

John pushed his way forward and grabbed Jake's arm. "Where's the office?"

"Back there," he nodded to his left. "But you're not allowed back there. Kate is very strict about employees only in the office."

'Fine, fine." He started to walk back over to Donna when he heard a the sound of glass breaking in the direction of the office. Not caring about some stupid employee only rules, John raced towards the sound.

There he found Rose Tyler, splayed out on the ground, unconscious and with a shattered tea cup next to her hand.

* * *

Rose was feeling truly awful. The whole time she covered Gwen's class she felt like the floor was spinning beneath her feet and if she had had anything on her stomach she was sure she would have vomited everywhere after demonstrating landing from the vault. It did nothing for her nerves when she saw John and Donna enter the gym much earlier than usual, she was having a hard enough time focusing on what the kids were asking her and now she had to try and act like her heart wasn't jumping for joy at the sight of the handsome doctor.

As Gwen's class was ending, she knew she needed to head straight over to her own class, but her head was pounding and all she wanted in the world was a sip of water. "Hey, Lynda!" she called out, stopping one of the girls. "I need to go grab something from the office. Do me a favor and ask Jake to start warm ups for my class? Tell him I'll be back out in just a few minutes."

"No problem!" she replied cheerfully and bounded off on her task.

With a deep, steadying breath, Rose made her way towards the back office. As she reached her destination an extreme bout of dizziness swept over her. She reached blindly for the paper cups she knew were usually next to the water cooler, only to realise they were completely out. With a moan, she stumbled towards the cabinets and pulled out the first mug she could reach. As she pushed off from the counter she felt herself begin to fall. It seemed never ending, like she was falling through deep space and there was no one to catch her, until finally, she felt her body collide with the floor and a searing pain slice across her hand. The last thing she registered before the darkness took her away, was the sound of footsteps rushing towards her.

* * *

Antiseptic. That was the first thing Rose was aware of as she regained consciousness. She hated that smell. Without even opening her eyes, she knew instantly that she was in the hospital. Why? She had know idea. But she knew one thing... She did NOT want to stay there any longer. She felt a funny sensation on the back of her right hand and she cringed. And IV. Really? Ugh. She brought her left hand over to try and take it out, but was stopped when she realised two things. One, that her left hand was bandaged. And two, someone else had grabbed hold of her.

"Oh, no you don't. That needs to stay in there for now," a man voice scolded.

Rose frowned and slowly began to open here eyes. She was instantly met with the sight of John. No. Not John. She was met with the sight of Dr. Noble and he did not look happy.

"What happened?" her voice croaked out.

"You passed out," he answered curtly.

"I gathered that. I meant to my hand."

"You must have been holding a mug when you collapsed, it broke and sliced your hand open. Nothing too deep. Didn't even need stitches, but you'll need to keep it clean and bandaged for the next week or so."

Rose nodded and looked around the room. "How'd I get here?"

"I drove. It was quicker than calling 999."

Rose looked at the clock on the wall and groaned. Not only had she missed her class, but she was over two hours late for her shift at Henricks. "Fuck," she muttered. Her boss was not going to be happy.

John tried not to look surprised over her choice of words. He cleared his throat. "Is there anyone I can call for you? Donna tried finding your mum's number on your mobile, but it was locked. And your friend Jake said there was no answer on your home phone."

"My mum's staying with an injured family member for the next few days," she answered. "Do you know if Jake tried Mickey?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Good. He would only freak out unnecessarily." She stretched her right hand and looked at the IV attached to it. "Hey, now that I'm awake, can you take this thing out?"

"Absolutely not," he said sternly. "You, Rose Tyler, were extremely dehydrated upon arrival. You need to finish that bag."

"I'm fine!" she insisted. "Really, the sooner I can get this out, the better. I'm already late for work and my boss will have my hide for not calling in."

"I'll write you a doctor's note."

Just then the door to her room opened and in strolled a beautiful young woman, who appeared to be a few years older than Rose herself. "Ah. I see our patient is awake." She smiled cheerfully. "I'm Dr. Martha Jones and I would shake your hand, but I realise that both are probably uncomfortable at the moment."

"I'm Rose, but you probably already know that."

"That I do. John here told me all about you."

She raised her eyebrows and looked at him. "You did?"

"Not all about you..." he mumbled and shot Martha a death glare.

The female doctor laughed and glared right back. "Now then, Rose," she began, "I need to ask you a few questions. Alright?"

"Kay."

"How much sleep have you been getting lately?"

"Per night?" Rose asked. Martha nodded. "Ummm... " She quickly did the math in her head. "Three hours maybe?"

Martha nodded and wrote down her answer, "Alright, and when was the last time you ate anything?"

Rose thought back through her day. "This morning. I had a piece of toast before work."

"Just a single piece?" John jumped in. "And what time was that at?"

"Yeah, around six."

Martha continued to write before asking, "What about fluids?"

"I had some tea with my toast and a few sips of water throughout the day."

John resisted the urge to pace and instead began tapping his foot impatiently. "And what about a meal? When was the last time you had real substantial meal?"

Rose felt tears prick her eyes and she wasn't sure why. Somehow the disappointment she saw in John's eyes, made her feel like she completely thick. When _was_ the last time she ate a meal? She couldn't remember. She, honest to goodness, could not remember the last time she had sat down and ate a meal. She briefly thought about having spaghetti for Jenny's birthday, but that had been a month ago. That couldn't have possible been the last time. Could it? She had been so busy lately, the only things she had time to eat were things she could grab quickly. "I-I don't remember," she answered honestly.

"What about lunch breaks?" he snapped. "Do you not get lunch breaks at that shop of your's?"

"Dr. Noble, that's enough," Martha cut in. "He makes a good point though, Rose. Have you been getting proper lunch breaks? Because if not you need to complain to your management."

"I get breaks, I usually just have a bag of crisps from the staff lounge. The machine was out today though," she answered quietly.

"Rose, you have an extreme case of fatigue and your bordering on malnutrition. As it is, you're already anaemic, although you might have been aware of that."

"I was."

Martha cleared her throat as she read further down in her patient's file. "John, do you mind if I speak to Rose privately for a moment."

"What for?" he questioned rudely.

"Doctor-patient confidentiality."

"Oi! I'm a doctor. "

"Yes, you are," she cooed in a mock-soothing tone. "But I'm the current physician attending her. You're a consultant. At the moment, I don't need you to consult. I need to speak to Rose alone."

He turned to Rose. "Will you be alright?"

Rose nodded as Martha answered, "She'll be fine! Goodness, you'd think I never needed to speak with a patient before."

John huffed and stomped his way out of the room. "How long have you known him for?" Rose asked when she saw the sparkle in the other doctor's eyes.

"Oh, years. Met him back when I was medical student. My first day here and I was so nervous." She laughed. "He found me out on the balcony, by the patient's lounge, muttering the bones of the hand over and over again. He sort of took me under his wing after that."

"Sounds like you two are pretty close then."

"Definitely." She leaned in closer. "To tell you the truth, I had a mad crush on him when I first met him. Blimey, I was so young then. We're just friends though. He never thought of me like that and I eventually got over it. I look at him more like a brother or crazy uncle."

Rose giggled at her description. "So there's nothing..."

Martha smiled reassuringly. "You have nothing to worry about, Rose."

"I wasn't worried!" she said quickly. "We're not... I mean... there would be no reason for me to be..."

"Besides," Martha held up her left hand, "I'm engaged. In six months time I'll be Mrs. Tom Milligan."

"That's great! Congratulations."

"Thank you, now as nice as this girl talk has been. This was not the reason I wanted to speak to you privately." She flipped open Rose's file. "This isn't the first time you've been here with similar symptoms."

"That was years ago," Rose said quietly. "Different circumstances."

"Those weren't the only ailments that brought you in though, you had three broken-"

"Yeah, I'm well aware. Ta."

"Rose, you showed serious signs of abuse. I need you to talk to me truthfully. You can trust me. Whatever you say in here stays strictly between us."

"That was all a very long time ago. This was just me being neglectful. I have three jobs and don't have much time to stop and eat full blown meals or get a full night of sleep."

Martha eyed her patient carefully. She could see a stubbornness in her and knew she wouldn't get her to open up anymore. "Well, I don't want you going back to any of your jobs until Monday. I'll write you notes for you to give to your bosses so there shouldn't be any problems on that front. "You need rest and lots of it. Understood? And I would highly suggest you try to cut back your hours at work if possible."

Rose nodded her head. "Dr. Jones?"

"Martha."

"Martha, John's hasn't seen anything in my file, has he?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Like I said before, I'm your attending physician. As long as he's not treating you, he won't have access. Alright?"

"Yeah."

"Listen, I'm not a therapist or anything, but if you ever need to talk to someone, I'm here."

"I'm really fine. But thank you."

"How about I go see about springing you from this joint?" she asked.

"Sounds great to me!"

* * *

A few minutes later John reentered the room. "Martha said it should be just about an hour before your released."

Rose sighed dejectedly. "Okay. Would you mind calling me a cab so I can get home?"

"No need. I'll take you."

"You really don't have to do that," she told him.

He ignored that. "You said your mum's not home though and you need someone to monitor you for the next couple of days and make sure you don't collapse again."

"Nah. I'm feeling better already. I just need some sleep is all."

"Nope. Tell you what, why don't you came stay at my house this weekend?"

Rose's heart began to race and she said a silent _thank you_ that she wasn't wearing a monitor. "I-I couldn't impose like that. You have Jenny and I'll just go stay at my cousin's house. That's where my mum is."

"Ah, but you said your mum is caring for your injured family member. She'll be busy. Trust me, I have a huge place, you could truly go the whole weekend without even seeing us. It'll be like a holiday!" He grinned cheerfully. "Just what you need!"

"Are you sure?" she asked with her own unsure tone.

"Absolutely! Tell you what, I'll go call Donna and tell her to make sure a room is nice and ready for you and then once you're released from this place, I'll swing you by your flat so you can grab anything you might need."

Rose watched as he bounded out of the room. The last thing she wanted was for him to see where she lives. The situation she was in right now was bad enough. She was truly mortified. Reaching over for the telephone on the desk next to her, she dialed a familiar number.

_"Hello?"_

"Hey, Jake. It's Rose."

_"She lives!"_ she heard him cheer.

"Shut up," she said with a grin. "Listen, I need you to do me a huge favor."

_"What's up?"_

"Do you think you could run over to my flat and pack me a bag with some clothes and toiletries and then bring it by the hospital?"

_"Sure thing, but what for?"_

"I'm staying the weekend at a friend's house."

_"A friend you say?"_ he questioned suggestively.

"Yes. Just a friend."

_"Whatever you say, Rosie. How will I get in your place."_

"Remember Tina from across the hall? She has a spare to the flat."

_"Okay. Give me like... thirty minutes."_

"Thanks, Jakey. You're the best! Oh and do me a favor, don't mention any of this to Mickey. You know how he gets."

He laughed. _"That I do. See you in a bit."_

"Bye!" she stated just as John waltzed back in.

"Who was that?" he asked her.

"Oh, just Jake. He lives near me, so he's going to pop by my place and pack me a bag. Said he'll bring it by in about thirty minutes."

John took a seat next to her. "I really didn't mind running you home, you know."

"I know." She smiled gratefully. "It'll just be easier this way. One less stop we have to make."

* * *

An hour later, and Jake had dropped off Rose's stuff and she was finally released from the hospital. She waited nervously out front as John pulled his car around. A minute later and the nicest car she had ever seen in her life pulled up in front of her. _Mickey would probably be pissing himself over this car, _she thought as John opend the passenger door.

"Ready for your holiday?" he asked as he helped her in.

_No._ "Yep!"

* * *

_**Coming Soon: A Weekend Holiday**_

**Please review! xoxo**


	9. A Weekend Holiday

**A/N: I am SO sorry about the wait. A constantly changing work schedule with a sudden illness thrown in are to blame. Thank you though to all my followers, everyone who had favorited, and to everyone who's left such lovely reviews! You guys never cease to amaze me. This chapter was a bear. I hope you guys enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That goes to the BBC.**

* * *

There were a lot of warning bells ringing in John's head. Alarms telling him to run far away because this situation he found himself in now was bordering on domestic. Another part of him scoffed. Didn't he sign up for domestic the moment he agreed to keep Jenny? Besides, Rose was a friend. At least, he thought she was. If anything, she's his daughter's gymnastics coach. Plus, he was a doctor! He couldn't just leave her alone for an entire weekend when she was clearly unwell. Didn't that go against some sort of oath? He was almost positive that it did.

He spared a glance to his left and gave a small smile when he saw a sleeping Rose burrow closer to his jacket that he had placed on top of her. She had fallen asleep within minutes of getting in the car, only proving to John just how exhausted she really was. Rose was hiding something, he was sure, but didn't feel totally comfortable calling her out on it. It's not like they really knew each other that well. Actually, scratch that, Rose knew things about him that he hadn't told anyone. But the fact still remained that he didn't know a hell of a lot about her. Hopefully this weekend she would learn to open up a bit. There was something about Rose that he was drawn to and he wanted to be the person she leaned on. If possible.

As John pulled up to his home, he sent Donna a quick text telling her to keep Jenny in the kitchen until he could settle Rose in her room. He didn't want the little girl getting over excited and waking her up. Rose needed her sleep.

* * *

"Daddy! You're home! Is Miss Rose gonna live?" Jenny jumped up and asked dramatically the moment her father entered the kitchen.

"Jenny Noble," her aunt scolded, "I told you several times that Miss Rose was just fine. Now sit back down and finish your tea or you won't be getting any pudding this evening."

"Sorry, Aunt Donna."

John chuckled and kissed the top of his daughter's head. "Miss Rose is fine. She's sleeping at the moment, so we best keep our voices down."

"Aunt Donna said Miss Rose is staying with us this weekend so she can repercolate."

"Recuperate," he corrected. "That's right she is. So I'll need my best nurse to be on her best behavior. Is that clear, young lady?"

Jenny grinned and gave her dad a salute. "Yes, sir!"

Donna shook her head in exasperation and handed her niece a bowl of ice cream. "Here, Miss Cheeky. Why don't you go watch telly for a bit while I talk to your dad." She turned to her brother the moment Jenny disappeared from sight. "So, how is she really?"

"Okay right now." He sighed. "She was in rough shape though, ran herself completely ragged. Did you know she started taking overtime at one of her jobs. She's barely sleeping at night and hardly even letting herself take a break throughout the day for a proper meal."

Pouring herself them both a cuppa, she asked, "Why in the world is she working so hard?"

John shrugged and took the mug Donna handed him. "Saving up money I guess. Why she's become so gung ho about it though is anyone's guess. I feel like she's hiding something."

"Well, if she is, it's her business. Don't go prying for information."

"Give me some credit, Donna."

"It was sweet of you to insist she stay here this weekend."

He sniffed. "Her mum's gone for a few days. Couldn't let her be by herself, now could I? What if she passed out again but this time seriously injured herself."

Donna smiled over the rim of her mug. "Whatever you say, spaceman. Do you want me to stay too?"

"No, no! I mean, we'll be fine."

"Okay," she replied simply, trying to muffle her giggles. "Listen, John, I need to tell you something."

He turned his full attention to her. "Must be serious if you're calling me John."

"I was offered a job."

"What job?" John asked.

"Remember that job I applied for at Shadow Proclamations?" she prompted. "The advertising firm?"

"Course I do, but you interviewed for that months ago. I thought they hired someone else."

"They did, but whoever it was didn't work out. They said I immediately came to mind as that person's replacement. I'll just be a sales rep to start, but there's room for growth."

John grinned brightly. "That's brilliant, Donna! You completely deserve it. They should have hired you in the first place."

Donna winked. "No arguments from me! The thing is," she took a deep breath, "I won't really be available during the day anymore to watch Jenny. I work Monday through Friday and with your schedule always being so different, I couldn't really give them an excuse for not being able to work on certain days. I start this Monday."

"Hey," he placed his hand on top of hers, "it's fine. I'll figure something out. I know how badly you've wanted to start working again. And while I know Jenny will miss you, I completely understand."

"But who will watch Jenny when you have to be at the hospital?"

"I'll hire a nanny."

"You don't trust nannies."

"I'll hire someone I trust. Donna, stop worrying!"

"Alright. Alright. Listen, I'm going to go say goodbye to the kid, then I need to be heading home. Gotta look through my closet and see if any of my old work clothes are still in fashion or if I need to go shopping."

"Have fun with that," he told her dryly.

"Oh, I plan too."

The truth was, John had no idea what he was going to do. When Jenny came about, Donna had been in between jobs and had offered to watch the little girl on the days his presence at the hospital was needed. Donna had never shown a interest in a particular profession, always just taking temp jobs in various offices as they came about. Naively, he just assumed she would always be around when he needed her. It wasn't until a year ago when she started mentioning going back to work. He was fully supportive of course, but once she hadn't heard back from of couple of interviews she'd had, she stopped applying. Again, he just assumed she would continue to watch his daughter. And he was happy for her, truly he was. He hoped with all his might that this job at Shadow Proclamations would work out and be the thing Donna's been looking for. Her missing piece.

* * *

The first thing Rose was aware of was how incredibly comfortable her bed had become.

The second this was the fact the there was something small and cold resting on her chest.

She slowly opened her eyes and realised she was not at home. Instead she was met with the sight of Jenny Noble bending over her listening to her heart with a stethoscope that was much to large for her.

Jenny smiled brightly when she saw her patient open her eyes. "Good morning, Miss Tyler! Glad to see your finally awake."

Rose furrowed her brow and tried to wipe away the sleep she was still feeling. "Miss Tyler? Finally awake?"

"Oh yes," she nodded seriously, "the doctor and I have been worried about you. It was tough and slow there for a while."

"I think you mean touch and go, yeah?"

Suddenly a voice called out from the open door. "Jeneva Noble! What did I tell you?"

Jenny looked at her father with wide eyes. Rarely did he use her fully name. "I just wanted to check her heart beat, daddy! Like the nurses do at the hostable."

John sighed and scooped Jenny off of Rose's bed. "You mean hospital and I understand, but I still told you to wait until she woke on her own. Miss Rose was very very tired and she needs her sleep. Now apologise for waking her up."

"Sorry, Miss Rose," she said quietly.

She gave a small smile as she sat up and held her arms out. "Come here." Jenny crawled out of her father's arms and onto Rose's lap. "Now then, apology excepted because you were clearly taking very good care of me. But you must remember to listen to your daddy and follow his directions. Agreed?"

The little girl nodded her head and John bit back the grin playing on his laps. "Breakfast is almost ready, poppet. Why don't you head to your room and start getting dressed. I'll be along to help you in just a moment." Jenny quickly bounded off the bed and out of the room. "Sorry about that. She's been itching to see you since last night."

"No worries. What time is it anyway?" she asked.

He glanced at his watch and replied. "Almost nine."

Rose shook her head. "Blimey, I can't remember the last time I slept in this late."

"Good. How are you feeling this morning?"

"Alright. A bit blah I suppose."

"You'll feel better after you get some food in you."

Rose looked down and realised she was still wearing her clothes from yesterday. "And a shower. A shower sounds brill."

"En suite's right through there," he directed. "I would say take as long as you like, but I'm afraid you might get dizzy and pass out. So I'll give you twenty minutes before I send Jenny in there to check on you."

She laughed. "Agreed."

* * *

Twenty minutes later and Rose was feeling much better. She thanked her lucky stars for Jake's wonderful fashion sense when she saw all the adorable outfits he picked for her, including a sexy lingerie number that she has no recollection of ever buying let alone wearing. She stuffed that at the bottom of her bag and prayed that neither John nor Jenny would have reason to snoop through her things. Why Jake felt the need to include that item, she'll never know.

As Rose headed down the stairs _(bloody hell, had John carried her up these last night?)_ towards the wonderful smells of a delicious breakfast, she felt much better clothed in her favorite pair of jeans and a magenta jumper that, normally, hugged her in all the right places. True, the jumper was now a little big on her, which became a bit of a wake up call. She hadn't realised how much weight she had apparently lost these past few weeks and felt shameful for it.

"Ah, there you are!" John greeted as she entered the kitchen. "Right on time. I've made toast, eggs, and bacon. Well, I say bacon. It's actually turkey bacon, but it's tastes just as good in my opinion and it's technically healthier than regular bacon.

Rose giggled and took a seat next to Jenny. "Turkey bacon sounds great. I'm starved!"

"Now you won't want to eat too much at once. Your body might react badly to that."

"I'll take it easy," she told him.

"Good."

Talk over breakfast was easy and lighthearted. John entertained the girls with some stories from his travels, before Jenny took the spotlight and decided to tell her father and Rose everything that had happened the previous night at gymnastics. "And then Justine said that her mummy was going to have a baby!"

Rose perked up. "Really? Oh, that's lovely."

"Yep! She said that her mum lost her period and that's when she knew. Daddy, what's a period?"

John began choking on the tea he had been sipping. "Sorry! Uh... A period is a punctuation mark. You know that, silly girl." He laughed nervously.

Jenny looked thoroughly confused and shook her head. "But Justine said this was different and if a girl didn't have one than she was having a baby."

"I... uh... I mean... "

Rose pulled the little girl off of the chair she was sitting in and onto her lap. "Jenny, love, a period is something that a girl gets when she's older and her body starts changing. It's completely natural. And Justine was partially right, sometimes if an _older_ girl stops having her period she might be pregnant. But that's not always the case and it's not something you need to even think about for a very long time." She bent down closer and whispered, "It also embarrasses boys when we talk about it in front of them. Especially daddies! If you ever have anymore questions about it though, you can always ask your Aunt Donna or myself. Yeah?"

Pleased with that answer, Jenny responded, "Okay!"

Rose looked towards John and grinned when he mouthed, "Thank you," to her.

* * *

After calling all three of her employers, to update them on her health, Rose spent the rest of the day playing board games with Jenny and John. It was fun and silly and Rose truly couldn't remember the last time she had felt so relaxed and little did she know, but John felt the same way. He was still curious about what Rose was hiding, but decided to the keep the topics lighthearted and fun. This was supposed to be a holiday and he didn't want to ruin it for her by making her talk about things that clearly made her uncomfortable. The was the last thing he wanted, because there was something about Rose Tyler that made him want to take care of her.

He wondered if she wanted to be a mother someday. She would make a fantastic one, if she did. She was so sweet and caring and handled his little girl with such ease. Like at breakfast, how she simply took Jenny into her arms and explained a subject he would rather not discuss with his baby girl. Ever. It only drove home his wishes for Jenny to have a proper mum.

John continued to watch Rose the next day as they walked to a nearby park so they could get some fresh air. It was a rare sunny day with only a few clouds in the sky and she looked beautiful. For a moment he could just pretend that they were a little family, they certainly looked like it. With Jenny's golden hair that matched Rose's they could easily pass as mother and daughter. The two girls stayed on the swings for hours as he laid back on the blanket they'd brought and read a book simply for pleasure. It had been ages since he'd done that.

As they left the park, he forced his little daydream away. It would be of no use dwelling on such thoughts. But, oh she made it difficult that night when Jenny asked if she could stay up late and watch a movie with the two adults. Melody had told her all about how she and her parents would have movie nights, where they would take a bunch of pillows and blankets and lay them out on the floor in front of the telly. Now she was dying to do the same. Rose immediately agreed, but told her it was ultimately up to her dad. Unable to say no to either, he agreed as well. As long as they watched _The Lion King._

It wasn't until Simba returned to Pride Rock and defeated Scar, that John realised that both Jenny and Rose were sound asleep. Rose was curled up on her side, with Jenny curled in front of her, back to chest. They both looked so peaceful as they lightly snored, he didn't have the heart to wake them just yet. He muted the sound of the movie, but let the final scene play out in silence. At that moment, John heard the quiet _ding! _from his mobile. It was a text from Donna.

_Spaceman! Tomorrow evening we're going to the pub to celebrate my new job. _

_Find a sitter and bring Rose. No excuses._

_P. S. Have you kissed her yet? _

John rolled his eyes and quickly typed out his response.

**Earthgirl! I'll call Sarah Jane tomorrow and see if she can watch Jenny.**

**If she can then I'll be there. It's up to Rose if she wants to come or not.**

**P. S. It's really none of your business. **

Donna's reply came almost instantly.

_I'll take that as a no. Dumbo._

Rolling his eyes. John shut his phone off. He had no desire to continue this conversation with his sister. Right now, he just wanted to close his eyes for a moment. At least until the credits stopped rolling. Then he would wake Rose up so she can move to her room. Yep. Just as soon as the credits stop rolling...

* * *

_**Coming Soon: Stick Around...**_

**Please review! xoxo**


	10. Stick Around

**A/N: You guys are the best. Many many thanks to my followers, to those who have favorited, and to everyone who's reviewed! I really hope you like this chapter. Enjoy the fluff while it lasts ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That goes to the BBC. *The lyrics in this chapter are from Hey Jude by The Beatles.***

* * *

When Rose was a little girl, her favourite thing in the world was to sleep in her mother's bed. There was something so warm and inviting. Safe. It made her feel safe. When she was in her mum's bed, nothing could reach her. She loved sleeping in her mother's bed so much that it became somewhat of a problem. Wanting her daughter to be independent, Jackie Tyler insisted that during the week, Rose had to sleep in her own bed (unless she had a bad dream, in which case, all bets were off). But Jackie compromised with her little girl, because, she too, loved having her baby with her. Because when Rose was next to her she felt safe. By the time Rose reached the age of twelve, their weekend ritual had stopped. Even if she had a bad dream, she stayed to herself. Only once since the age of twelve has Rose slept in her mother's bed. Only once.

As Rose slowly woke up Sunday morning, she was overwhelmed with the wonderful feeling of safety. Only this time, she wasn't the one curled in her mother's embrace. This time there was a tiny little body tucked perfectly into her side. She opened her eyes and realised that she was still in the media room. The telly was still on, but had long since gone into "sleep mode." There were no windows so she really couldn't tell if it was morning or not until she saw a manly arm with a wrist watch attached, laying very close to her. It was John. He was laying on his right side, facing her and Jenny, with his arm outstretched, just barely skimming Jenny's arm and Rose's hand. She turned her head and read the time 8:15 am. She was truly shocked that John wasn't awake yet. This weekend she had discovered that John was a very early riser and it made her wonder how much he himself slept. Perhaps he needed a holiday weekend as well.

Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to enjoy this moment. The whole weekend and been one relaxing blur. It had been like she was a child again playing pretend. She could just image that John was her husband and Jenny was her little girl. They were a perfect little family who had days where they played board games all day or went to the park and while she and Jenny stayed on the swings, John would pretend to read Dickens or Shakespeare, but really he was sneaking glances at her the whole time. Later they would return and their charming little girl would insist they all get in their jimjams and camp out on the floor watching Disney movies. In reality, all of that really happened. Only, they weren't a perfect little family. John wasn't her husband, nor would he be, and Jenny was his daughter. Not hers. Sure, they played board games and went to the park, but John did not sneak any glances at her. He always had his eye on Jenny. Making sure his daughter was being careful. Yes, they were a lovely little family and Rose was their guest. A friend and nothing more.

Opening her eyes, Rose shook herself back to reality. Carefully, so not to awake the little girl sleeping sounding next to her, Rose eased out of their make-shift bed, making sure to tuck the blankets back around Jenny so she wouldn't be cold. Tomorrow, Rose would be back in the real world of working double shifts at Henricks, only now Rose was well rested and felt like she could actually attack her vicious schedule with a little more tact. She would not let herself become as rundown as she had and she had one person to thank for that. John Noble. There was no way she could repay him. Not really. She knew he would deny anything she tried to get him so she thought of one thing that he would absolutely love and would have a hard time denying.

* * *

John opened his eyes quickly. How long had he been asleep!? He glanced at his watch and realised it read 9:20 am. _Blimey, I slept the whole night through!_ he thought to himself, unable to recall the last time that had happened. A quick look around made him realise that he was completely alone. Embarrassment washed over him. Had they all slept there the entire night? Or had Rose gone back to her room at any point? Standing up, he quickly folded the blankets and piled up the pillows they had been using and set them in the corner of the room, to be put away at another time. Right now he was curious to know where his daughter had scampered off to. As soon as he exited the room, he heard the sound of someone singing. Two someones in fact. Following the sound to the kitchen he leaned in the doorway and watched as Rose handed a bowl of some sort of mixture to stir, all the while singing a familiar tune.

_Hey Jude, don't make it bad_

_Take a sad song and make it better_

_Remember to let her under your skin_

_Then you'll begin to make it better..._

_Better better better better better, oh!_

A smile bloomed on his face as Jenny giggled and chimed in with the next part.

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude_

_Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Jude!_

Jenny suddenly stopped singing and squealed, "Daddy you're awake! I wanted to wake you sooner but, Miss Rose said I should let you sleep."

"Good morning, poppet." John entered the kitchen fully and placed a kiss on his daughter's head. "What's all this?"

"Miss Rose is making breakfast and I'm helping!"

"Are you now?" He turned to Rose. "You didn't have to do that," he told her kindly.

She shrugged. "It's my way of saying thank you. You were right. I really needed this weekend and I never would have stopped and relaxed if it wasn't for you stepping in and opening up your home to me."

He swallowed deeply, trying to form his words. "It's been our pleasure, Rose. No thanks necessary."

Rose blushed under his intense stare."All the same..." She cleared her throat. "I've made banana pancakes!"

"How did you- How did you know that those were my favourite?!"

"Luck guess," she told him with a tongue in teeth grin. "Seriously, John. I've think I've seen you eat over ten bananas this weekend alone.

"I like bananas. Bananas are good for you!"

"Excellent source of potatominism," Jenny declared.

Rose giggled. "I think you mean potassium, sweetheart."

"That's what I said!" the little girl insisted before turning to her father. "And guess what, daddy? Miss Rose has been teaching me a new song!"

"I heard!" he told her.

"I hope you don't mind," Rose said sheepishly.

"Not at all. Can't go wrong with the Beatles."

"My dad was a big fan. I used to listen to his old records over and over again. On Sundays, my mum would always make pancakes and I would put on the records while I helped her cook."

"That sounds nice," John stated as he watched her slip into the past.

She gave a small smile. "It was."

* * *

After their delicious breakfast was over and John had declared himself officially stuffed, he turned to Jenny and said, "Hey, poppet, why don't you go play in your room for a bit. Daddy needs to speak with Miss Rose." He had debated the past two days over what he was going to do with Jenny now that Donna would be working and he finally thought he had the perfect solution.

The little girl turned her wide eyes to Rose. "Will you come play with me after?"

"Absolutely!" she responded. With that confirmation, Jenny skipped out of the kitchen.

"So, back to work tomorrow?" John asked when they were alone.

Rose gave a short sigh. "Yep. Not looking forward to it though. Henricks wasn't to thrilled with me missing these past few days. Especially after I had asked for extra shifts."

"Donna got a new job, you know."

"Really? Good for her. Where at?"

"Shadow Proclamations. It's some advertising firm."

"That's brilliant. She'll be running the place in no time, I'm sure."

He laughed. "No doubt about it. The only problem is, now I need to find a nanny for Jenny."

"Oh. Have you ever had one before?"

"Nope. Usually Donna is my go to person. Occasionally Jack if Donna and I are both busy. I have another old friend of mine, who offers to babysitt from time to time as well. But they're really the only ones I trust."

"What about your gramps or your mum even?"

"Gramps can watch her for short periods of time, but as much as I hate to admit it, he's not as young as he acts. And my mother? That's just a no."

Rose took a sip of her now cooling tea and asked, "So what are you going to do?"

"Well, I've been going back and forth about that all weekend. At first I thought I could go through an agency and try to find someone that way, but in case you haven't noticed, I'm rather protective of Jenny and it would take me quite awhile for some random nanny to gain my trust, despite whatever credentials she might hold. But then someone else came to mind. Someone who I absolutely trust and that my little girl loves."

"Who?"

He grinned. "You."

"Me!?"

"Yep! That is... if your interested."

"I adore Jenny... I really do... But I've never been a nanny before. I've watched a few of my cousins here and there when I was younger but-"

"Rose, you take care of children on a nightly basis at UNIT," he reasoned.

"That's teaching gymnastics not caring for a child."

"Rose, if this is something your not interested in, then that's fine. But I watched you this weekend, and your an absolute natural. You're patient and kind. You always know what to say, especially when she has questions about... you know... girl stuff."

She gave a small chuckle. "You should have seen your face!"

John looked away embarrassedly. "Yes, well. My point is, there is no one, besides the few people I listed earlier, that I would trust more to take care of Jenny than you."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"What would the schedule be like?"

"My own schedule varies, but even when I'm home I'm usually working still. So, let's just say Monday through Friday. Perhaps some weekends. We can work out exact times later on."

"I can't quit my other jobs though," she said quietly. "I need the money."

"Rose, I think you'll find that you won't need those other jobs."

"Why's that?"

"Because I'll pay you enough."

"John, you don't understand-"

He pulled a notebook off a nearby shelf and scribbled something down. "This is how much I'll pay you."

"A month?" Rose asked cautiously.

"No. A week."

She felt her hearts stammer in her chest as she stared at the amount. That was more than she made at all her jobs put together! "I-I can't accept this. That's too much! I know how much nannies make and it's way less than this."

"Not really," he said honestly. "It's how much I'm willing to pay for someone I whole heartedly trust to take care of my daughter. I would pay more, in fact."

"I could quit Henricks."

He smirked. "You could. The others too, if you'd like."

"I love working at The Sparrow and Nightingale, but times are rough and Sally isn't desperate for my help anymore. I could work there just for fun whenever I'm free. I've been so stressed these past couple months, I forgot how much I love that old shop. I won't quit UNIT though," she informed him. "I couldn't just abandon my kids like that."

"I agree. I'm sure we can work the schedule out so that will be no problem whatsoever."

"You sure this is what you want? That... I'm what you want? To take care of Jenny, I mean."

John leaned forward and placed his hand on hers. "I'm positive."

* * *

"But why can't I go with you?" Jenny asked for the umpteenth time as John drove towards his old friend Sarah Jane's house.

After he and Rose had finished finalising their new schedules, they had gone straight to Jenny's room to inform her of the changes about to take place. She was of course saddened that she wouldn't get to see her Aunt Donna as much, but had been over the moon when Rose told her that she would be there in her stead. Rose had also insisted the Jenny drop the "Miss" from her name when they were outside the gym. They would be spending a lot of time together from her on out and there would be no need to stand on ceremony so often.

When John had informed Rose of Donna's pub night celebration, she had immediately agreed to going. And after receiving confirmation that Sarah Jane could watch Jenny for the evening, he immediately texted Donna and told her to count them in.

John sighed. "I told you, Jenny. We're going to a pub and that's no place for a little girl. Besides, you're going to hang out with Sarah Jane. You love Sarah Jane!"

"I know," she agreed. "Do you think Luke will be there too?"

"I would assume so."

"I hope he let's me play with his chemistry set!" she cried gleefully.

"Only if Sarah Jane is watching," he warned sternly.

"Of course, daddy."

Rose smiled from her place in the passenger seat and asked, "So how do you know this Sarah Jane?"

"Old friend. When met when I was still at the Academy. She was an up and coming journalist and she was trying to write an exposé on Gallifrey, wanted it to be her big break. I found her trying to break in in the middle of the night. She was shocked. Thought I was gonna call the coppers." He laughed to himself. "Instead I gave her a grand tour of the school and an exclusive interview with me."

"So was it her big break?" Rose asked curiously.

"Not that piece. She never published it. Said she felt too guilty."

'How old were you?"

"I was barely fourteen. She had just turned twenty. We kept in contact though. Despite our age difference, we were fast friends. We lost contact for awhile, both going our separate ways for a bit but after Gallifrey... Well, she found me again." They pulled up to her house as his story finished. Sarah Jane was waiting outside for them.

"Hello," she greeted softly as he got out of the car.

John pulled her into a hug. "Hello, Sarah."

"And Jenny look how big you've gotten!"

"I'm four now," the little girl pronounced proudly.

"I know. I have a present for you inside."

Jenny's eyes lit up. "Really? Bye, daddy! Bye, Rose!" With that she ran inside.

Sarah Jane swiveled when she heard Jenny's final farewell.

"Bye, sweetheart!" the other woman called out. "Be good!"

John chuckled and shared a knowing look with her. "So much for wanting to come with us, eh?"

"I'm sorry," Sarah Jane cut in. "I don't think we've met."

The blonde smiled and held out her hand. "No, we haven't. I'm Rose."

"I didn't know you were seeing anyone, John."

"Oh no, no no," he stammered. "Rose is Jenny's gymnastics coach and starting next week, she's her nanny as well. She's a friend too. Yep. A friend."

Rose prayed she wasn't blushing. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sarah Jane."

"And you," the woman replied in kind, if not a little curtly.

"Well, we've best be going. I'll be back around nine to pick up the kid," John said.

"Whenever's fine," Sarah Jane responded. "Have a nice time."

* * *

When they had arrived at the agreed upon pub, Rose grinned in delight when she saw Wilf sitting at a table tucked away in the corner with Jack and Donna. "Hello, love," he greeted when she took the seat next to his.

She leaned over and placed her hand on his arm. "Hello, Wilf. It's wonderful to see you again."

He winked. "Same here."

After everyone shared their greetings, Jack stood and asked what everyone wanted, already aware of what ales John and Donna preferred.

"Just a coke for me," Wilfred told the younger man.

"Come on, gramps! You can get something a little stronger," Donna encouraged. "I won't tell mum."

"No, no. I'm on a new heart medication. No alcohol allowed"

John frowned. "I wasn't aware you switched medicines. I'm coming by tomorrow to take a look at what you were prescribed."

"You're not on the clock, Doctor Noble. Now hush so the pretty thing next to me can tell Jack what she wants."

Rose smiled and told Jack, "Just a coke for me as well."

Donna crossed her arms. "Come on now! We're celebrating my new job and from what John told me earlier your new job as well! Get something a little stronger than that."

"Don't feel bad on my account. Order whatever you'd like," Wilf whispered to her.

"A coke is really just fine for me," she told them all. "I don't really drink."

Donna's eyes grew wide. "Ever?"

"Ever."

"Have you ever?"

"When I was younger. But I just... don't... anymore."

"Donna will you stop pestering her," John chimed in with a growl. "She can drink whatever she'd like."

"I wasn't pestering! I was just curious," his twin spouted off. "So tell me, Rose, how was your weekend at this lump's house?"

* * *

Two hours later and everyone was in high spirits, swapping stories back and forth, telling Rose various tales from each other's lives. Jack, she learned, worked for the government and it was very top secret. Not even John knew what he _really _did. Despite his serious job, he had an alarming amount of stories that ended up with him being naked.

"I don't believe a thing you say!" Rose said as he ended another story.

"It's true!" he defended.

"Shut up," she told him playfully.

"Oh yeah? Well let me tell you about the time John and I-"

The man in question sat up straighter. "Jack, you are not telling THAT story."

"It's a good story!"

The two men continued to banter back and forth and Rose was loving every minute of it. That is until the door to the pub opened and Rose saw who walked in.

Her heart dropped.

* * *

_**Coming Soon: Ghosts From The Past...**_

**Please review! xoxo**


	11. Ghosts From The Past

**A/N: First off, let me say a big thank you to me followers, those who have favorited, and to those who have left such wonderful reviews. You guys are the best. Now let me say, I'm so sorry about the wait! This chapter and I went rounds and I'm still not 100% happy with it. Alas. Many thanks go to Ash, over on Teaspoon, who talked me out of a "What do I do!?" spiral. She's amazing. I really hope you like this one.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That goes to the BBC.**

* * *

Immediately noticing her change in demeanor, John asked, "Rose, are you alright?"

"Y-yeah..." she stammered.

"Isn't she from UNIT?" Donna questioned after following her line of sight and landing on the young blonde who was currently hanging off the arm of an obviously older guy with dark skin.

"Yes," Rose answered. "That's Lynda, Lynda Moss. And with her is Rodrick Delaney."

Lynda and Rodrick separated as the latter went straight to the bar and the former moved to claim the open table next to their's.

"Miss Rose!" she exclaimed in surprise when she noticed the occupants of the table next to her's. "W-what are you doing here?"

Rose narrowed her eyes. "I should be asking you the same, Lynda."

"Oh, I'm just here with a friend."

"No, your not. Don't lie to me. That's Rodrick Delaney and by the way you were hanging all over him when you arrived, it seems to me like you were on a date."

Lynda's eyes widened in shock. "How do you know Rodrick?"

"I've known is family for years. My best mate works with his older brother, Rob, and used to date his sister, Trisha."

"Oh. Well, we're not really on a... date... we're just... you know."

"Lynda, he's twenty years old!" Rose stated causing Donna to give a short gasp.

"He says age doesn't matter," the younger girl told her defensively. "He says I'm not like other girls my age."

Rose groaned this was hitting just a little too close to home for her. "Lynda, you are fourteen years old."

Just then the subject of their discussion walked up, holding two glasses of ale. "Hey, baby, I hope you like what I got for you."

Jack stood immediately and glared at the young man. "I would think very carefully before you hand her one of those drinks."

"Yeah? And who the hell are you to-" His reply was cut short by Jack flashing a badge. Rose couldn't see it clearly from where she was sitting, but it was obviously official enough to scare the pants off Rodrick. Jack took the opportunity to grab the glasses out of his hand and set them at their own table.

Feeling flustered, Rodrick's gaze settled on Rose. "Well, well, well. Rose Tyler. Haven't seen you 'round a pub in ages."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Been busy," was her short reply.

He chuckled and eyed the way John was sitting protectively close. "I can see that."

"You need to go home and leave Lynda alone, Rodrick."

"Oh, come one, Rose! You used to be fun. And I seem to recall you never having an issue with age difference before when you-"

She stood and faced him head on. "Shut. Up. And go home!"

"Now, that wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me. I'm Lynda's ride."

"Don't worry. I'll take care of her." She threw a quick questioning look to John, who gave her a small nod in return.

"But that's not fair!" Lynda piped in. "I want to be with Rodrick!"

He grinned. "You heard the lady. Now why don't you run along and leave us to our date."

"She's bloody fourteen, you disgusting git! You're all charms and smiles, but I know the real you Rodrick Delaney. You may have fooled her, but you're not fooling me."

Rodrick stepped forward and got in Rose's face. "Why, you little slag-" Before he could continue with his insults and before Rose could even process his words, Jack had Rodrick's arm gripped behind his back and John was standing protectively in front of her.

Donna pulled Lynda closer and tried to hush the young girl's feeble protests. "Let him go," she cried.

"Come on, sonny boy. Time to leave," Jack said as he began to haul Rodrick out of the pub.

Rose and the others followed, trying to avoid the stares from nosey patrons. "Can we take her home?" she asked John quietly, nodding to the sullen Lynda.

"Of course," he answered simply, but Rose could hear the anger behind his tone.

_'There it goes,'_ Rose thought to herself._ 'My past ruins everything once again.'_

* * *

"Come on, Lynda. You're coming with us," Rose said softly once they made it outside. Lynda didn't respond, but marched closer obediently. Rose walked up and gave Donna a hug. "I'm so sorry your night was ruined."

"Pish posh!" Donna exclaimed. "It was rather exciting to be honest. Besides, it wasn't your fault."

Rose shrugged. "Still. Congratulations on your new job. Call me and let me know how your first day goes."

"That I will. And congrats to you too!" She winked.

"Thanks." Rose hugged and said her goodbyes to Wilf before walking over to where Jack was standing guard over an angry Rodrick. "Bye, Jack. Sorry about all this."

"Not your fault," he told her, unknowingly repeating Donna's sentiments. "I'm just gonna stay with himself over here until you guys leave then I'm gonna head over to Donna's place."

"Are you now? What for?"

"Oh, I just have a little good luck present I want to give her," he told her nonchalantly.

Rose quirked her eyebrow. "Really? Hmm." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "Be good to her, Jack."

He grinned. "I will if she'll let me!"

She giggled and began to walk away before Rodrick called after her. "Oh, Rose? I forgot to tell you! You'll never guess who's staying at my brother's flat?"

Rose felt her heart begin to race, but refused to turn around.

"Jimmy. Yeah, you know he and Shareen seem really happy together, but I know he misses you. I'm going over there tomorrow. I'll be sure to tell him you said hello."

Rose didn't see what happened next but she heard Rodrick give a grunt of pain before Jack muttered, "Didn't I tell you not to speak to her?"

"Rose...?" John looked at her in concern when she stepped closer. It was then she realised that her hands were shaking.

"I'm, um, ready to go."

He frowned. "Alright, come along."

* * *

John wasn't sure what to do or say. So far the three minutes they'd been in the car had been painfully awkward. Rose was suspiciously quiet as she stared out the passenger side window and the only words Lynda had spoken aloud was when she provided John with her address. The night had been going so well until that young girl walked into the pub. That was when John saw a fierceness in Rose that he had never seen before. It also brought out a vulnerable side that she was clearly trying to hide. It hurt his heart to know that someone had done that to Rose. Done something to hurt her so badly, that she felt the need to protect every young girl out there from something similar happening to them. It was painfully obvious to John that a guy had been at least part of the source of Rose's pain. Then there was what Rodrick told her. Something about a Jimmy? He wasn't really sure, he had been standing too far away. But he definitely planned on calling Jack and finding out what had transpired while he had been saying goodnight to his sister and grandfather.

His musings were cut short when Lynda's small voice asked, "Are you gonna tell my mum?"

Rose sighed and closed her eyes. John could tell she was debating her answer. Finally after a near minute of silence Rose opened them and answered, "Yes."

The young girl released a sob. "But why!?"

"Because I wish there had been someone to take me home and talk to my mum when I was your age."

John was startled by her answer. What exactly had she been up to at Lynda's age?

"What do you mean?" she asked between sniffles.

Rose turned in her seat so she could see her properly. "Lynda, I know Rodrick. I know blokes like Rodrick. They tell you all sorts of pretty promises, make you think they really care. But once they get what they want out of ya' they're done. The promises stop. The kind words stop. And if for some reason they don't throw you out like yesterday's garbage, it's not a pretty sight."

"He told me I was beautiful," she cried. "No guy has ever said that to me before. Only my dad and not even he's said it in years."

John felt his heart melt. He was constantly showering praise on his own little girl and made a promise to himself right then and there that he would never stop and make Jenny doubt her beauty or worth.

"Oh, Lynda. You are so beautiful. And you're incredibly sweet and Rodrick used that to his advantage. It's what he does. How many times have you seen him?"

"This was our second date... Sort of. We met at the cinema last week. It was a silly movie that I had no interest in, but my friends were dying to see it. He came and sat next to me. Said he could tell by the look on my face that I wasn't having a good time. He asked if I wanted to go wait in the lobby with him till the movie was finished. We spent the next hour and a half just chatting about things. He really seemed genuinely interested in me. Told me I wasn't like any other girl he had ever met." She held back a sob and continued, "When the movie was finished he asked for my number. He texted me five minutes later asking me when we could see each other again. I was really busy with school so this was the only free night I had. I thought he would lose interest once I told him how long it would be, but he said it didn't matter. He's texted me every day since telling me how much he misses me."

Rose felt dread in the pit of her stomach, afraid to ask her next question. "And has anything happened between you two... physically?"

Lynda blushed and looked away. "We snogged a bit when he picked me up earlier."

"That's it?"

"Yeah and even then I started to panic cause I've never really done that before. I've never even had a boyfriend! But he told me it was alright. That's when he suggested we go to the pub. He said it would help me relax and we could try again after."

John fought back a growl, knowing exactly how relaxed this Rodrick fellow wanted her to become.

"Oh, Lynda," Rose said sympathetically.

"God, I'm so stupid!"

John pulled the car over suddenly and turned around. "You are not stupid, young lady. Do you hear me? You made a mistake in your judgement of a person. You're not the first nor will you be the last. But you need to learn from your mistake and not do it again. You're fourteen and as much as you may not want to hear it, you're still a kid! You don't need to be worrying about a bloke. Especially one who's going to pressure you into doing things you're not ready for. You are a bright, sweet, beautiful young girl. On top of that you're a fantastic gymnast. Just enjoy being fourteen. Okay?" he asked softly.

She nodded her head as she swiped at the tears trailing down her cheeks.

Slowly, he turned around and pulled the car back onto the road. He spared a glance towards Rose who mouthed a small, "Thank you." John gave a short nod and not a minute later was pulling up in front of Lynda's home.

"I'm just going to walk her inside," she told him.

He smiled. "I'll wait right here."

Lynda cleared her throat. "Thank you for the ride home, Dr. Noble. And for... you know..."

"It was no problem at all, Lynda. Remember what I told you, yeah?"

"Yeah."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Rose carefully made her way back to John's car. Dread was pooling in the pit of her stomach as she thought about what was about to happen. There was no doubt in her mind that after the conversation they were about to have, John would no longer want her to be Jenny's nanny, and that just broke her heart.

"Everything alright?" John asked her as she slid into the passenger seat.

She shrugged and didn't respond until her had started the car and turned towards Sarah Jane's house. "Her mum is upset, understandably."

"Course."

"Mostly with herself though."

"Why's that?" he asked, confused.

"She thinks she should have saw something like this coming." Rose rolled her eyes. "Apparently Lynda's dad left them about three months ago and is sharing a flat with another woman. I guess he hasn't even really tried contacting Lynda since."

"Bastard," he muttered with a shake of his head.

"My thoughts exactly. I don't think she'll do it again though," she added after a few moments of silence.

"What?"

"Lynda. I don't think she'll try to contact Rodrick anymore or do anything like that again."

"What makes you so sure?"

"She's not a bad girl. She's a really sweet girl who was feeling a bit lost and confused. When I left, she and her mum were having a real heart to heart. I think that's all she needs. She'll be okay."

"You seem to know a lot about... all this," John said cautiously.

She took a deep breath. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay..."

"We have time before we have to pick up Jenny, yeah?"

He glanced at the clock which read 8:15. "I told Sarah Jane that I would be back around nine and she doesn't live far from here. We have time." With that, he once again pulled the car over and shut it off. "What do you need to talk about?"

"I don't really know where to start," she said as she nervously began twisting her hands.

"You seem to know an awful lot about this Rodrick fellow and the games he plays. Why don't you start there?"

"I've know 'im and his siblings for years. We all grew up together." She sighed. "I'm not from a nice area, John."

He nodded. "Where are you from?"

"I grew up on the Powell Estate. It's a council estate in Peckham. I still live there, actually."

"Okay."

She frowned. "That doesn't bother you?"

"Why should it?" he asked sincerely.

"It's not a nice are," she repeated. "I mean, it's not the worst or anything... but still..."

"Rose, it doesn't matter to me where you're from or where you live. Is that why you didn't have me drive you to your flat so you could pick up your stuff for this weekend?"

"People have always looked down on me because of where I live and it never used to bother me. I was never ashamed," she told him vehemently. "But with you... I just didn't want you thinking poorly of me. I care for Jenny so much and I was afraid that if you knew where I lived you might not trust me anymore and you would take Jenny out of gymnastics. And now I'm afraid you won't want me to be her nanny anymore."

He gave a small chuckle. "None of that matters to me. Unless your some sort of criminal, I highly doubt anything you tell me is going to change my mind about you being Jenny's nanny."

"You haven't heard the rest of my story," Rose said quietly.

"Go on, then."

"Like I was saying, I've known Rodrick for years. I never dated him personally, he's younger then I am, though I had several friends who did. But while I was never with Rodrick. I did date a guy like him. Worse actually." She gave a snort and looked away, not noticing how dark John's eyes had become. "Like Lynda, I was fourteen when I started going out with friends and getting up to no good. Nothing serious. Sneaking beers and fags and what not. It was when I was fifteen that I met... him."

"Him who?"

"Jimmy Stones," she answered with a false wistfulness. "He was nineteen, a musician, gorgeous and every girl wanted to be with him. We met at a club my friends and I had snuck in to. I recognised him right away. I mean, I'd been ogling him for weeks. He asked me to dance and that was that. For the next month and a half we were inseparable. My mum and I were fighting a lot at the time so I didn't even tell her about him at first. It wasn't until he asked me to move in with him that I told her who he was. God, she was so mad. She had heard rumours about him, 'round the estate. Told me he was bad news and just wanted me for a quick shag. I didn't believe her. I told her she was just jealous that I had a man who cared about me unlike her.

John gave an audible hiss. "Ouch."

Rose lowered her head. "Yep. I was not being nice. I didn't even ask her permission if I could live with him. I just packed my bag and left."

"What did you do about school."

"He convinced me to drop out."

"He did what!? How?"

"I never really liked school. I was horrible at it and we both knew I wasn't going anywhere with my smarts."

John gave a growl. "He actually said that to you?"

Rose just gave a half hearted shrug. "Like I said, he was a musician. He said his band was going places and he would take care of me. He knew I liked to sing, so he even told me I could sing back up for him once he made it big."

"What happened?" he asked in a softer tone.

"Oh, what you would expect I suppose. It was perfect for about the first week or so. Then I started to realise what I mistake I made. I was too ashamed to admit it though, so I ended up staying with him for two years."

"Two years!? What made you finally leave him?"

"I caught him with another girl in our flat... Actually it was more of a bedsit."

"He was cheating on you," John stated more as a fact than a question.

"I knew he had been cheating, it was just the first time I had actually caught him. I had got off early from work. Ugh" She shuddered. "A job at a horrible chippy, that I took to support his lazy arse, mind. Anyway, I came home, found him and the cow he was shagging, together in _our_ bed. We had a row, I packed a bag, and that was that." Rose closed her eyes. Technically, she was telling the truth. She was just leaving out some details of that dreadful day.

"You went home to your mum?"

"Mmm. She took it a lot better than I had expected. I had found out that he had left me in a load of debt, despite her own money problems, she helped me out till I found a new job and was semi back on my feet."

His eyes widened. "Is that why you've been working so hard?"

"Partly. I mean, I paid off the debt awhile back, but now I'm working on finding a better place to live for my mum and I. The estate seems to be getting worse and worse and I just don't like that I have to leave her there alone so often." She didn't add the other reasons she wanted her mum off the estate. "So..." she said after a few seconds of silence.

"You thought that because of that I wouldn't want you to be Jenny's nanny?"

"John, I left school. I don't even have me A levels! Your daughter is like, the smartest kid ever and you want some drop out to take care of her?"

"Stop it. You're not some drop out. You're brilliant, Rose."

"I'm really not."

"You are. I don't judge brilliance on the schooling someone's had."

"I've made horrible mistakes-"

"That you've spent the past several years trying to make up for. You're right. You made mistakes, when you were a young naive teenager. It's clear as day that you're not that girl anymore, Rose. We've all done things we regret, you know." She nodded and he continued, "I just wish you had been honest about your background from the beginning."

"It's just... You're clearly well off! We're from two very different walks of life."

"Yes, I have money. Now. It wasn't always like that though. I'm from pretty humble beginnings myself. In fact most of my wealth wasn't actually earned."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"It was all left to me when the Academy was destroyed. Even my home."

"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed..."

"It's okay." He reached over and grabbed her hand. "Hey. Do you still _want _to be Jenny's nanny?"

Rose squeezed his hand. "More than anything."

"Let's go pick her up then, alright?"

She gave a small smile. "Alright."

* * *

Sarah Jane smiled as she heard a knock on the door. She glanced at the clock that read 9:01. _'Look at that,'_ she mused. _'Right on time.' _She opened the door and was met with the sight of Rose. "Oh," was all she could say.

"Hi. Sorry we're a bit late."

"You're not."

"Oh."

Sarah Jane looked around Rose's shoulder. "Where's John?"

"He got a call from the hospital when we pulled up," Rose informed. "He's still in the car."

"Well, Jenny's right through here." She opened the door and lead her to the small living room. "She dozed off about fifteen minutes ago."

"Poor thing. We did stay up rather late last night."

"Did you now?" Sarah Jane muttered sarcastically. Actually, she was well aware that they had stayed up late. Jenny had spoke not stop about the blonde woman from the moment she arrived.

"I'm sorry. Have I done something to offend you?" Rose asked bluntly.

"No. Of course not."

"It's just... John has spoke so highly of you and I can tell he really cares about you. I was just hoping we could be friends."

"I've known John for a very long time and I'm extremely protective of him and Jenny both. I don't want to see either of them hurt."

"And you think I'm going to hurt them?" Rose questioned in shock. "Trust me, I care about both of them. I would never do anything to hurt them."

"Maybe not intentionally," she said sincerely. "You seem like a nice girl and I'm sorry if I've come off rude. By the way Jenny's spoke of you all evening, it's clear she adores you. John too by the looks of it." Rose blushed but she didn't pay any mind. "I'm just very protective is all. He's lost so much."

"I know. I'm glad he has you, Sarah Jane."

Jenny began slowly opening her eyes. "Rose?"

Rose bent down and pulled the little girl into her arms. "Hi there, sweetheart. Your dad's waiting for us in the car so we better get going."

She rubbed her eyes and settled her head back onto Rose's shoulder. "Kay."

"Say goodbye and thank you to Sarah Jane."

"Bye and thank you," she mumbled, already half way back to sleep.

The older woman giggled and placed a kiss in her hair. "Goodbye, Jenny. Thank you for spending the evening with Luke and myself." Sarah Jane placed Jenny's coat into Rose's free hand and then slipped the book she had gotten her, for her birthday, into Rose's purse.

"Goodbye, Sarah Jane," Rose said.

"Goodbye, Rose."

* * *

Later that night after Jenny had been put to bed and John slunk off to his office, Rose quietly got ready for bed before pulling out her mobile phone. She huddled in under her blankets and dialed a familiar number.

After three rings, she heard a male voice answer, "Hello?"

"We need to talk."

* * *

_**Coming Soon: Bonfires and Surprises.**_

**Please review! xoxo**


	12. Bonfires and Surprises

**A/N: Many many thanks to my followers, those who have favorited, and to those who have left such kind reviews! I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That all goes to the BBC.**

* * *

That Monday morning, Rose dreaded going back to Henricks. She had loved every moment that he had spent with John and Jenny and wished with all of her might that she could start her duties as a nanny right away. John was all for it, claiming she could start whenever she pleased, but Rose knew it her heart it wouldn't be fair to her employers and she had to give them some sort of notice. Her boss at Henricks didn't seem to care whether Rose quit not and made no attempt to persuade her to stay on, with that in mind Rose decided to give a one week notice instead of the formal two week she had planned. As for the Sparrow and Nightingale, Rose had decided to wait until she was scheduled to work on Saturday to have any sort of discussion about her employment with Sally. She thought it was only fair to have that conversation face to face as opposed to over the phone.

Rose sighed as she glanced at the clock hanging above UNIT's front door. Her own class had ended thirty minutes ago, now she was just waiting on Jake to finish his class so he could give her a ride home. She sighed and shook her head as she recalled the conversation she had had with John earlier that morning about getting to and from work. He had been adamant about giving her a ride to Henricks and was even insisting that he go back and pick her up that afternoon and take her over to UNIT.

"And then what?" she asked. "You gonna drive all the way back three hours later and pick me up from there? I'll be fine, John. I'll take the bus over to UNIT after I get off at Henricks, just like I've doin' for years now."

"You've been ill!" he proclaimed.

She laughed. "I'm much better and you know it. I promise. I'll be okay. Besides, after I get off at the gym, Jake's going to take me home."

John's eyes narrowed. "Is he?"

"Yes. For one, he lives near me. Two, he's meeting up with our friend Mickey. He's going to be at my flat this evening trying, once again, to fix the hopeless case that is my washing machine."

"What's wrong with your washing machine?"

"Who bloody well knows."

"I bet I could fix it."

"No offense, Doctor Noble, but this is a machine. Not a person."

"Oi! I may be a medical doctor, but that's not all I am. I'm a genius." He sniffed.

Rose laughed. "You think you're so impressive."

"I don't think, Rose. I know."

In the end, Rose got her way. She did agree though that if Mickey was unable to fix the washer that night, then John would be more than welcome to take a shot at it. Of course that would mean that he would actually have to come to her flat, which was something Rose did not want to contemplate. While she may have admitted to him where she resided, she still wasn't sure how comfortable she would be with him physically seeing it. Or how comfortable _he_ would be.

Jake suddenly appeared beside her. "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

* * *

Rose tried taking deep calming breaths as Jake parked his car and they made their way to her's and her mum's flat. Rose had called Mickey the night before and explained everything that had gone down with Rodrick, including his claim about Jimmy. She knew it was time she had an honest conversation about what had happened in her past with Jimmy and the threat she feared his release from prison would have on them. Mickey whole heartedly agreed and insisted that himself and Jake be there for not only moral support, but to come up with some ideas to help keep her mum safe until Rose could afford to get them a better place to live.

"Mum?" Rose called out as they entered the flat.

"In here, sweetheart!" Jackie's voice rang out from the kitchen. "Mickey should be back any minute with the Chinese." At that exact moment, Mickey walked through the front door, arms laden with bags of food. "Speak of the devil."

Rose moved forward and placed a kiss on his cheek before helping grab the food from his hands. "Fix the washer?"

He shook his head. "Nah. I tried everything I could think of, but I think it might be time to call it."

"Not yet. My new boss thinks he might be able to fix it."

"New boss!?" her mother shrieked. "Rose Marion Tyler, do NOT tell me you are taking on a fourth job."

"I'm not, mum! I swear. Let's sit down and eat and I'll explain everything."

* * *

As they ate their food, Rose proceeded to inform her mother of everything that happened the past few days, from Rose's collapse at UNIT to having her run in with Rodrick and Linda at the pub. Understandably, Jackie had not been pleased when she learned her daughter had been hospitalised, even if only for a few hours.

"Why didn't you tell me, sweetheart? I could have taken care of this weekend."

She smiled gently at her mother. "You were busy taking care of Mo. I didn't want to bother you."

"You're my daughter, Rose. Mo could have figured something else out." Jackie sighed. "I knew you were running yourself ragged. I told you so, didn't I? Why didn't you listen to me?"

"I was just trying to-"

"Enough of this 'I'm just trying to make a better life for us' nonsense."

"It's not nonsense, mum!"

Jake and Mickey both shifted in their seats uncomfortably as Jackie and Rose stared daggers at each other.

Finally, Jackie spoke up. "What's so wrong with our life here, Rose?"

Rose shrugged, unsure of how to proceed. "Nothing is _wrong_ with it, per say. It's just not as safe as it used to be."

"She has a point, Jacks," Mickey stated. "Even I'm on the lookout for a new place."

"Mum, there's something I never told you..." Rose took a deep breath.

Jackie frowned. "What? What have you never told me?"

"When Jimmy and I... split up-"

"Is that what you're calling it?" She snorted.

"Like I was saying, when Jimmy and I split up... he... he threatened me, mum. And he threatened you too."

"What do you mean?"

"He said he was going to make our lives hell."

"Oh, Rose." Jackie scoffed. "I'm not afraid of Jimmy Stones."

"You should be," Jake chimed in. "This is serious, Jackie. We kept a lot from you about what really happened with Jimmy and Rose and the power Jimmy holds over people."

"What?!" She looked at her daughter. "Why would you keep these things from me?" Rose opened her mouth to answer, but all that came out was choked sobs. Jackie moved out of her chair and bundled her into an embrace. "Hush now, love. Let's go sit down and you can explain everything. And I mean everything this time."

* * *

This time Rose held nothing back. Over the next two hours she explained everything that happened between herself and Jimmy. Even Jake and Mickey, who thought they knew all that had transpired, were shocked by her revelations. When she was finished with her tale, they began their plans. They would continue on with their lives as normal, they would just take more precautions. When home alone, Jackie was instructed to keep her mobile on her at all times. She was also told not to answer the door unless she specifically knew who it was and trusted them. They weren't too worried about Jimmy trying something in the daytime. Too many residents of the Powell Estate knew him and the trouble he caused. It wouldn't be a wise decision for him to try anything at that time. No, Rose was sure that if, and she was holding on to that if, if he tried anything it would be when it was darker. So, with that in mind, it was decided that as soon as Mickey was done at work he would head straight over to their flat until Rose and Jake were home from the gym. The boys also agreed that they would take turns spending the night. Rose and Jackie tried to protest that, but they insisted.

"Hopefully, this should only be for a few more months," Rose claimed when they were finished. "Maybe even less. With what I'm making at my new job added to what I already have saved-"

"Rose, sweetheart, are you really sure about this suppossed 'nanny' job of your's?" Jackie asked.

"Course I'm sure."

"Well, I'm not. I don't trust him. Some older man stalking you at the gym, taking you to his home for an entire weekend... Just what were you two up to anyway?"

"Nothing, mum!" Rose rolled her eyes. "Honestly. He's just my friend. And I trust him. Jake knows 'im! He could tell you."

Jake's eyes widened. Truthfully, he didn't know John Noble that well. But he didn't see any reason _not_ to trust him. "Oh, yeah. Great bloke."

"See!" Rose told her. "And I just love his little girl. Mum, I promise. This new job is a good thing."

"If you say so," her mother conceded. "But, if this backfires, don't say I didn't warn you."

* * *

A half hour later, Jake made his leave since Mickey opted to stay the night at the Tyler flat. As Rose searched for extra blankets and pillows for her friend her mobile began to ring.

"Hello?" she answered.

_"He kissed me!"_

Rose laughed at the familiar voice on the other end and tried to process what she just heard. "Donna? Who kissed you?"

_"Jude Law!" _the fiery red head claimed sarcastically. _"Who do you think? Jack kissed me!"_

She gave a wide smile. "Really? How was it?"

_"Perfect."_

"So what exactly happened?"

_"He came over to my place, said he had a gift for me."_

"Boy did he ever," Rose teased.

_"Shut it, blondie. Anyway, he ended up giving me this beautiful diamond bracelet. Said he wanted me to wear it on my first day."_

"Oh, Donna. I can't believe it. What did you say?"

_"Well, what could I say? I tried to deny it, told him it was too much. But you know what he said? He denied my claim and told me that it wasn't enough. That I deserved much more. In the end, all I could stutter out was a meek little thank you."_

"And then he kissed you?" she prompted.

_"Not quite," _Donna informed._"Then he told me he best be going before it got to late. Said to make sure I got plenty of rest before my big day. Next thing I knew, he gave me a quick hug and left."_

"He just left?"

"_Yep. And to say I was disappointed was putting it mildly, but then, not even a minute later, there was a knock on my door and there he was"_

Rose squealed. "I knew it! What did he say?"

_"Said there was one more thing he wanted to give me. For luck."_

"And then he kissed you?"

_"And then he kissed me,"_ she confirmed.

"Oh, Donna, I'm so happy for you! What does this mean?"

_'Hell if I know,"_ she said with a laugh._ "He texted me this morning to, once again, wish me luck. And then he texted again on my lunch break."_

"Well, I think this is wonderful. You deserve some happiness, Donna."

_"Yeah, but I mean... It's Jack."_

_"_And...?"

_"How long will this last till he gets bored with me and moves on to someone else?"_

"I honestly don't think he will. The man is head over heels for you. Anyone can see that."

_"You really think so?"_

"I really do."

_"He wants to meet up during one of my lunch breaks next week. Says he would love to do it sooner, but he wants to give me time to settle in my new job."_

"That's very considerate of him. Speaking of your new job, how did your first day go?"

With that Donna went off, telling Rose every new detail of her day. The women talked a bit more, before finally agreeing to meet up this weekend and have coffee.

* * *

Time went on and Rose was finally able to start her new job as nanny to little Jenny Noble. Some days were easy, other not as much. As she feared, there were times where Jenny was just too smart for her own good. Rose was constantly thinking of new projects to keep the little girl occupied. One Jenny caught on to right away was painting. She could sit for hours with Rose and paint to her heart's content.

Much to her disappointment, Rose did not see John as often as she'd have liked. A new case had popped up at the hospital and it needed John's full attention, so even when he was home, he was usually locked away in his office/lab. They were able to come up with a pretty solid schedule that, with time, eventually came at ease to them all. Rose arrived at the Noble home at eight AM sharp. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Jenny would accompany Rose to UNIT in the afternoons. If John was working at the hospital, then on Mondays and Wednesdays, Jack would come to relieve Rose at three PM sharp. Same on Fridays with Donna.

Rose rarely worked on weekends, but still found herself hanging out with various members of the Noble family, including Wilf, and even Jack himself. In fact, they had become quite close as Rose became the biggest fan of Team Jack and Donna. She often joked that she was going to make a T-shirt that claimed just that. Much to her delight, Rose even found time to volunteer at The Sparrow and Nightingale. Now that the pressure of making/saving her money had lessened, Rose remembered just how much she adored that old shop. Surprisingly, there had been no run-ins with Jimmy, or even Shareen for that matter. Jake had heard that he was lying low for now, despite that, they still kept their eyes out for him.

In that time, John had even met Rose's mother, who, truthfully, had been less then pleasant to the man. John took it splendidly though, remaining as charming as ever and was even able to fix their washing machine .Though he did admit that once they moved, they should consider trying to replace it. Rose had been a nervous wreck to invite him into her home, but if he felt any disdain towards their flat or neighbourhood, he didn't show it. Instead, he seemed to enjoy viewing the pictures of a much younger Rose on display.

* * *

Before Rose could even blink November fifth was upon them and Rose discovered that every year John and Donna held an annual party for Bonfire Night.

"It's huge," Donna had explained a few days earlier. "We have a huge bonfire in the backyard, there's loads of food, and at the end of the night we even have fireworks."

"Seriously?" Rose questioned with wide eyes.

"Yep! Jack gets us a special permit and everything."

"Anyone's welcome to come," John chimed in, "so feel free to invite whoever you'd like. Perhaps Jake and your friend Rickey."

She gave an amused smirk. "It's Mickey," she corrected.

"Really? Are you sure?" he asked, his voice higher than normal.

"Positive."

"Well, no matter. Invite them all. Even your mum."

Rose placed her hand on his forehead. "Are you ill? You want me to invite my mum to your party?"

He shrugged. "Course I'm not ill. Just thought she might like to come is all."

"She's not exactly your biggest fan," Rose said honestly, knowing there was no point in sugar coating it. "I'll ask her though."

* * *

When the fifth arrived, Rose spent all day at John's helping him prepare for the party. She had just finished changing into her favourite pair of trousers and a blue sparkly jumper early that evening when she heard the doorbell ring, signaling that the first of the guests had all arrived.

"I'll get it!" she called out, knowing that the others in the house were scattered about, probably no where near the front door. "Martha!" she acknowledged when she opened the door.

"Oh. Hello, Rose," she replied with a weak smile and a sniff.

Rose looked at the young doctor from top to bottom, noting while she appeared put together, her puffy and red eyes said something. "Is everything alright?"

"Fine. Just fine."

"Doctor Jones!" John cried as he wandered into the foyer. "Where's Tom? I thought he was coming with you?"

Martha's lip began to tremble as she unconsciously began rubbing her now empty left finger. "He's not going to be able to make it."

"Oh, Martha." Rose pulled the other woman in for an embrace. "Come with me," she said gently as she lead her back to the room she claimed as her's.

John sent a silent thank you to whoever might be listening above that Rose had been there to handle whatever was going on with that. He had never been sure of what to do when a woman started crying. Except his daughter. And somehow he didn't think Martha would appreciate it if he pulled her onto his lap and hummed a senseless tune till she was all cried out. Then again...

There was a knock on the door. John quickly opened the door and was surprised to see his parents standing there. They were invited every year, of course, but rarely actually came. "Mum, dad? What are you doing here?" he asked in shock.

"What do you mean what are we doing here?" his mother practically shrieked. "Have you gone and forgot what day it is? Again?"

He sighed. "No, mum. I was just surprised. You don't usually come for Bonfire Night."

"Well, I was more than happy to stay home, but your father decided he wanted to come. I'm assuming your grandfather is here as well?"

John gazed at his dad, once again, surprised by the older man's actions. "Uh... yeah. Gramps is out back with Jack and Donna."

His father spoke up, "And what about my granddaughter?"

"She's just finishing up a nap. I was just about to go wake her."

"No need," Rose said as she descended down the stairs with a sleepy Jenny on her hip.

John smiled when he saw that Jenny was wearing a similar blue jumper to Rose's. "Hi, poppet." He greeted his daughter with a kiss and took her into his arms. "Look who's here."

"Hi," the little girl greeted with a yawn.

"Hello, dear," her grandfather greeted.

"Well, are we going to stand around in this foyer all night?" Sylvia asked sarcastically.

"No, mother," John bit out. "Jenny, love, why don't you take your grandparents out back, yeah?"

"Kay." The little girl slid off his hip and took both of her grandparent's hands. "This way."

"How's Martha?" he asked Rose as soon as the others were out of earshot.

"She's okay. She and Tom split up this morning," she told him sadly.

"What happened?"

"Just said they had too many difference of opinions. She wasn't even gonna come tonight, but didn't want to be alone. She's in my room fixing herself up. I told her to take as long as she'd like."

John inwardly smiled when she said 'her room.' It pleased him to know how comfortable she was in his home. "Good good." The doorbell rang again as he smiled. "Let's get this party started!"

She giggled. "You are so cheesy."

* * *

More and more guests proceeded to arrive, some Rose knew like Sarah Jane and her son Luke, others she had never met before like Donna's neighbour Craig and his girlfriend Sophie. The Williams family arrived shortly after the party started, much to Jenny and Melody's delight. Rose was also pleased to see Amy and Rory and finally get to meet their youngest, a little boy, Anthony.

"Oh, he's just a doll! Good work, Amy," she cooed.

"Thank you." Amy beamed.

"Hey, I helped!" Rory stated.

His wife patted his cheek. "Of course you did."

* * *

Rose raced to the front of the house as she heard another knock. "Mum! You guys made it!" Rose said happily as she opened the door and invited them in.

Jake and Mickey looked around the place in awe, and even Jackie seemed to be having a hard time hiding how impressed she was.

"This is where you work?" her mum asked.

"Yep! Isn't it lovely!"

Just then, John walked around the corner. "Rose, there you are. I was wondering-" He stopped when he saw his new guests. "Oh. Hello there, Mrs. Tyler. And Jake... and you must be Rickey."

"S' Mickey," the other man replied stiffly, eyeing him up and down.

"Is it?" John asked innocently.

"I think I know my own name."

"You only think you doo-OOF! What was that for?!" he asked Rose who had just elbowed him in the side.

"You're being rude," she said quietly.

"Am I?" He turned back to the others. "Good solid name though, Mickey is. Classic. Like the mouse."

Rose just sighed and shook her head. "Don't mind him," she told her ex. "With that gob, he doesn't even know what he's sayin' half the time."

"Rose," Jackie chastised. "It's rude of you to talk about your employer like that."

John gave a big grin. "Oh, I don't mind. Now, come on then. Party's out back."

* * *

A half hour later, Jackie found herself out back surrounded by people she didn't know whatsoever. Jake and Mickey had found a bloke they had mutual friend with, so they were over chatting with him, leaving Jackie alone. Rose kept popping over to check on her, bless, but Jenny kept calling her away. At the moment the two blondes were dancing with another little girl, to some silly song blaring over a loud speaker. Jackie sighed as she watch Rose smile down at Jenny. Honestly, if she didn't know any better she would swear the two were related. She wondered what the girl's mother looked like as her eyes wandered over to where John was speaking with a much older gentlemen. Wilf, if she remember correctly. They had been introduced on arrival. Although they appeared in deep conversation, Jackie noticed that John's gaze kept drifting to her daughter and his. Especially her's.

"Here," a gentleman's voice interrupted her musings. "Thought you could use this."

The handsome bloke handed her a bottle of beer. "Ta. Who're you then?"

He chuckled. "Captain Jack Harkness. John's best friend."

"You don't sound like you're from around here," she stated, acknowledging his American accent.

"Not originally, no. I lived in the States till I was about fifteen."

"How'd you meet this lot then?"

"I moved from the States to Scotland, to a town near where John attended school. Our paths kept crossing and eventually we became friends." He shrugged. "Truthfully? I don't think he liked me very much at first. Thought I was cocky or something. No idea where he got that impression." He winked.

She gave a small laugh. "Where are my manners. I'm Jackie Tyler. Rose's mum."

"I had a hunch. You two look very similar. Like sisters."

"Hush, you." She playfully slapped his arm before nodding towards John. "What about him? Did you like him at first?"

"I didn't _not _like him. We've been through a lot together. Saw each other through some really rough times. He's a good man, you know?"

"Rose claims they're not an item, but I know better."

"I can tell you that, to my knowledge, nothing had happened. And trust me, see that beautiful ginger over there?"

"Donna? I met her earlier."

"Well, she and I are sort of a thing and believe you me if _anything _had happened between John and Rose, SHE would know and in turn tell me."

"I suppose so. So you and Donna?"

Jack smiled. "Yeah. I've been waiting a long time for her."

"You love her?" Jackie asked softly.

"That I do."

"And she loves you?"

"I think so."

"Then don't waste any time. My husband and I... We wasted a lot of time being silly and stupid. And then he was taken from me."

Jack surprised Jackie by pulling her in for a hug. "You're a pretty fantastic lady, Jackie Tyler. I see where Rose gets it."

As if summoned, Rose appeared, cheeks flushed from dancing, with a grin playing on her face. "Everything alright? You're not putting the moves on my mum, are you, Jack?"

"Would that be a bad thing?" he asked playfully.

"Only if I tell Donna," she teased.

"Oh, we were just chatting," Jackie remarked.

"Don't act too innocent, mum..."

"You're not to old for a smack you know?"

Her daughter laughed. "Come on, there's someone I want you to meet."

* * *

Rose smiled as she laid out a blanket to sit on, so she could enjoy the view of the fireworks that were about to begin.

"This seat taken?" John asked as he suddenly appeared next to her.

"Nope." She smiled. "I thought you had to take care of the fireworks?"

"Nah. I hired someone to do that. How come you're by yourself?"

"Well, Jenny's sitting with Melody. Their blanket is next to Amy's and Rory's, they're safe. My mum is over sitting with Martha and Wilf-"

"That's an odd grouping," he injected.

"I think my mum's playing mother hen to Martha at the moment. Plus, I think she's really enjoying Wilf's company. I think he reminds her a bit of her own dad." John nodded as she continued. "I lost track of Micks and Jake, they had a mutual friend with Craig so they might be over with him So that just leaves me..."

"Good thing I'm here then."

"Yeah. Good thing." Just then the first firework went off. "Oh, that's gorgeous," she said in awe as sparks rained across the sky."

"Absolutely," he agreed.

She looked over at him and found that he wasn't looking at the display above them but instead was looking at her. She ducked her head and cleared her throat. "Your...uh..your parents seem to be having a good time," she said with a shaky voice, nodding towards the older couple who actually had their arms wrapped around each other.

He exhaled. "I know. It's nice... I suppose."

She smiled. "It is. They seem happy."

"Thank you," he said out of nowhere.

She looked back at him. "For what?"

He took her hand in his. "Everything."

A blush crept up her cheeks as they both turned their attention back to the sky. "You're welcome," she whispered, still clutching his hand.

* * *

"Well, would you look at that," John said as the fireworks ended.

"What?" Rose asked. He nodded towards where Donna was practically sitting in Jack's lap snogging the life out of him. "Oh my god," she laughed before letting out a wolf whistle. "Get it!"

"Oi! Don't get it! Get a room. There's children present," John called over the other guests' cheers.

* * *

Early the next morning, Rose heard the doorbell to her flat buzz insensately. Knowing her mother was probably in too deep a sleep to even hear the annoying sound, Rose rolled out of bed and made her way to the front door. She shook her head as she saw Mickey, half slouched on the sofa, snoring away. After looking through the peep hole to see who it was, Rose immediately opened the door.

She blinked. "Jack?"

"Go pack a bag. We're going on an adventure!"

* * *

John opened his bleary eyes to discover his sister pacing about his room, throwing various articles of his clothing in a bag. "Donna?! What the hell are you doing!?"

"Packing you bag. Hurry up and get dressed. I still need to gather Jenny's things."

"What?" he asked, trying to process what was happening.

She held his travel bag out to him. "Come on, spaceman. We're going on an adventure!"

"What?" He glanced at his sister's hand. "What!?"

* * *

_**Coming Soon: A Trip to Gretna Green...**_

**Please review! xoxo**


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